Mirek Topolanek said after a meeting with his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk in Prague that the quality of the signed documents was more important than the timeframe with regards to signing the agreement between the Czech Republic and the U.S.
Tusk, who took office in November last year and has a more cautious approach to the U.S. proposal than his predecessor Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said Poland and the Czech Republic would coordinate their activities concerning missile defense negotiations with the U.S.
Washington wants to place 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the neighboring Czech Republic, purportedly to counter a missile threat from Iran and other "rogue" states.
Poland's leadership is expected to demand that the United States help Poland to strengthen its short- and medium-range air defenses to offset the danger of a potential terrorist missile attack against the country.
On the eve of his trip to Prague, Tusk told reporters that Poland has not yet received assurances or guarantees from Washington that hosting an American missile defense base would increase security in the country.
His remarks echoed his earlier statement made shortly after he was elected that the Polish government had "no rigid doctrine regarding the deployment of a U.S. missile defense base in the country," and that the issue was "open to all arguments for and against."
Meanwhile Sergei Kislyak, Russian deputy foreign minister, met on Thursday in Warsaw with Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski to discuss the U.S. missile shield.
Moscow fiercely opposes the U.S. plans, saying the European shield would destroy the strategic balance of forces and threaten Russia's national interests.
"Moscow will not change its proposals on the U.S. missile shield in Europe, which have been put forward by Russian President Vladimir Putin," Kislyak said.
Putin proposed last year setting up missile defense information exchange centers in Moscow and Brussels. Russia has also offered the U.S. use of radar stations at Gabala in Azerbaijan, and Armavir in south Russia, as alternatives to the missile shield deployment in Central Europe.
Washington said, though, it could use these radars only as additional components to the European shield.
