June 9, 1999
Web posted at: 4:52 p.m. EDT (2052 GMT)

BETHESDA, Maryland (CNN) -- President Bill Clinton said Wednesday he was very pleased that NATO had reached a deal with Yugoslavia on a Serb pullout from Kosovo.

"I'm very pleased," Clinton told reporters who accompanied him to this Washington suburb for an event at the National Institutes of Health. He declined to comment further.

He issued a statement which read:

"The agreement reached today by NATO and Serbian military officals is another important step toward achieving our objectives in Kosovo. It lays out the details to meet the essential conditions for peace: the rapid, orderly withdrawal of all Serb forces from Kosovo and the deployment of an international security force, with NATO at its core, which means a unified NATO chain of command, so the Kosovars can return home safely.

"We and our allies will watch carefully to see whether the Serb forces are peacefully leaving Kosovo in accordance with the agreed timetable. We have made clear to the leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army that we expect them not to hinder the Serb withdrawal."

Clinton was informed by a White House staffer at the Bethesda event that a deal had been signed.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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