WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Bill Clinton welcomed South African President Nelson Mandela to the White House on Tuesday with a pledge to "walk every mile" with his country as it transforms from apartheid to a multi-racial democracy.


"The American people welcome you here and we salute your stunning achievement," Clinton said as he greeted Mandela in his first visit to the White House as president of South Africa's new black-majority government.


Mandela thanked the United States for its support for the anti-apartheid fight. "You have no idea how your involvement in the anti-apartheid struggle in our country actually helped to facilitate the transformation," Mandela said.


Mandela's main mission during his week-long visit to the United States is to attract American investment to South Africa, and he issued an invitation to U.S. investors to "open your markets to us ... Come and invest in our country."


Mandela began his U.S. visit in New York over the weekend when he asked business leaders to invest in his country and reassured them his government was in control of the transition to democracy.


The U.S. Commerce Department has called South Africa one of the world's biggest emerging markets with substantial opportunities for U.S. businesses.