Further talks on proposed US radar base end

On Thursday, the Defence Ministry announced that a further round of talks on the proposed American radar base to be built in the Czech Republic had come to a close. Czech and American representatives had been meeting to discuss the wording of a bilateral agreement which would define the legal status of the military base and its employees, weapons' regulations on the base, and Czech access to the radar, among other points. According to a Defence Ministry spokesperson, the talks will continue into the next couple of months until an agreement can be found on the wording of the text. Despite the ongoing negotiations, it is still uncertain whether there will be a US missile defence shield built in the Czech Republic at all. The radar still has to be approved by the Czech parliament and the president. The White House is only expecting a final decision from the Czechs in 2008.