TIRANA, Albania (Reuters) -- U.S. President George W. Bush said on Sunday the United Nations needed to act on independence for the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo.

"We need to get moving... and the end result is independence," Bush said at a news conference in Albania.

The president said he was "worried about expectations not being met" in Kosovo, where 90 percent of the population are ethnic Albanians demanding independence from Serbia and where NATO leads a peacekeeping force of 17,000 troops.

Russia last Friday rebuffed the West's bid to put a vote on Kosovo independence to the United Nations this month, and Bush said his Kremlin counterpart President Vladimir Putin was still not convinced of Washington's case.

He said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would pursue the issue through diplomacy with Moscow along with America's European allies but "at some point in time, sooner or later, you have to say enough is enough, Kosovo is independent."

Bush's visit to Albania was the first visit by a U.S. leader to the Balkan state that was once a closed, communist society but is now a close ally of the United States.

On the penultimate stop in Bush's eight-day European tour, Air Force One touched down in brilliant weather outside the capital, Tirana, and the president's motorcade drove into the city along a highway cleared of traffic.

During his seven scheduled hours in Albania, Bush will be spared the sort of protests that greeted his visits to Germany and Italy. Tirana was festooned with U.S. flags, welcome banners and huge posters of a smiling president, and a 21-gun salute boomed out in welcome for the head of state.

The streets were nearly empty: almost everyone was inside watching the arrival live on all of Albania's television channels. The city will name a street after Bush, and Albania has put his portrait on commemorative stamps.

Several hundred Albanians from Kosovo came to Tirana especially to see him and gathered in the main square watched by hundreds of police.

"The U.S. holds the key to the balance of power in the world, and for a small country like us, this is marvelous," said Tirana resident Lufti Zeneli. "They helped us in the liberation of Kosovo. America is fantastic."