(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission announced Friday 500 million euros (789 million dollars) in EU aid to build Kosovo's struggling economy, at the start of an international donors conference.

"For the benefit of Kosovo citizens, the European Union is ready to pledge 500 million euros," EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said, as he opened the conference in Brussels.

The pledge comprises 350 million euros in "pre-accession" funds already foreseen for the 2008-2011 period, plus 150 million euros in "macro-economic assistance," an EU official said.

The offer came a day after the United States announced that it would offer Kosovo slightly more than 400 million dollars, 150 million of it in debt relief.

"This important meeting is the window to our future. We are full of hope and pride and we will not let you down," Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci told the donors.

Kosovo with a majority ethnic Albanian population proclaimed independence from Serbia on February 17. Belgrade, which still views the breakaway province as its medieval heartland, has rejected the move as illegal.

Along with the United States, more than 40 countries including all but seven of the EU's 27 member nations have recognised Kosovo's statehood, but others like Russia, China and Spain are refusing to follow suit.

Kosovo is one of the poorest parts of Europe with almost half its two million population living in poverty. Its unemployment rate is around 40 percent.

Donors have already contributed around 3.0 billion euros to Kosovo since its 1998-1999 war ended when a NATO bombing campaign ousted Serbian forces waging a brutal crackdown on Albanian separatists.

That was in addition to funding from the United Nations, which has pumped almost as much money into Kosovo to service its interim mission there, known as UNMIK, since the conflict.

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