Top US officials and leaders in America's defence industry will be in Prague this week, the Czech foreign ministry said Monday, as Washington looks to push its plans for a European missile shield.
Over 40 Czech companies and institutes are lined up to attend the two-day seminar from Wednesday where they will be wooed by US defence and aeronautics giants like Raytheon, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
"The aim… is to offer the possibility of Czech-US cooperation in the areas of research, development and industrial production of anti-missile defence systems," the Czech foreign ministry said in a statement.
The Czech Republic and Poland have difficult decisions to make on hosting parts of the shield, amid Russian fury at the prospect of US interceptor missiles based so close to its borders.
Washington is currently in negotiations with Warsaw to install 10 interceptor missile sites in Poland by 2012 to ward off potential attacks by so-called rogue states, notably Iran.
The plan calls for associated radar stations in the Czech Republic.
Negotiations between Washington and Prague over a framework agreement paving the way for Czech involvement will be launched by the two sides on Friday, the foreign ministry statement said.
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek hopes to put an agreement on the shield before lawmakers as early as April.
But his new Polish counterpart Donald Tusk is cranking up demands for security guarantees and other concessions from Washington and distancing himself from the unquestioned pro-shield stance of his predecessor.
The director of US Missile Defence Agency, Lieutenant General Henry Obering, will head the visiting American delegation.
