President Bush: Czech-U.S. agreement on radar is very close

U.S. President George W. Bush said on Wednesday that his country was “very close” to signing an agreement with the Czech Republic on building g an American radar base in central Bohemia. Mr Bush’s remarks came after a meeting with Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek in Washington. Mr Topolánek said that only minor details needed to be sorted out and that negotiations on the issue would be concluded very shortly. Both President Bush and Prime Minister Topolánek rejected Moscow’s claims that the U.S. anti-missile shield in Central Europe was to be used against Russia. Mr Bush said that the system was meant to address potential threats coming from countries run by extremist ideologies.

For his part, Prime Minister Topolánek said that Czech-U.S. relations would be elevated to the level of ‘strategic dialogue’, similar to that between the United States and Great Britain. This will involve the exchange of sensitive information as well as regular meetings of the countries’ top officials and expert teams.