The Czech Republic and the United States will sign both treaties about the U.S. radar base on Czech soil in early June, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said on Monday.
The main treaty was to be signed by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Prague next week but she could only stay in the Czech Republic for half a day. Therefore, the two countries have agreed to sign both documents together, Topolanek said.
"We have agreed in the end that it will be ideal to sign both treaties together. If everything turned out well ... both treaties would be signed in the first decade," the Czech news agency CTK quoted Topolanek as saying.
Apart from the main treaty that has already been completed, the Czech Republic and the United States are also negotiating about the SOFA treaty that defines the legal framework of American soldiers' stay at the planned radar base.
Rice allegedly postponed her visit to Prague since she was not able to harmonize it with her other working program, CTK said.
According to previous information, the Czech Republic and the United States are to sign both treaties at the beginning of May.
Both agreements need to be approved by the Czech parliament.
The United States plans to build a radar base in the Brdy military district, some 90 kilometers southwest of the capital Prague, along with an interceptor missile base in neighboring Poland.
Some 70 percent of Czech citizens are opposed to the project.
(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2008)
