US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to the Czech Republic to sign a deal on missile defense during a tour of Europe next week, her spokesman said Thursday.
"She will be traveling to Europe next week to include the Czech Republic," spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters, adding the plane will leave late Monday.
"It’s been announced that we are going to be traveling to the Czech Republic for the purpose of signing an agreement on missile defense," McCormack said, giving the first official confirmation of the event.
The Czech newspaper Dnes reported June 21 that Rice will land in Prague on July 8 to sign an agreement with the Czech government to site a US anti-missile radar in the country.
But McCormack could not say whether Rice would also visit Warsaw, which is still involved in negotiations with the United States over plans to base 10 interceptor missiles in Poland as part of the same project.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to the Czech Republic to sign a deal on missile defense during a tour of Europe next week, her spokesman said Thursday.
"She will be traveling to Europe next week to include the Czech Republic," spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters, adding the plane will leave late Monday.
"It’s been announced that we are going to be traveling to the Czech Republic for the purpose of signing an agreement on missile defense," McCormack said, giving the first official confirmation of the event.
The Czech newspaper Dnes reported June 21 that Rice will land in Prague on July 8 to sign an agreement with the Czech government to site a US anti-missile radar in the country.
But McCormack could not say whether Rice would also visit Warsaw, which is still involved in negotiations with the United States over plans to base 10 interceptor missiles in Poland as part of the same project.
The United States wants to deploy the missile shield system in both countries to ward off potential attacks by so-called "rogue" states, notably Iran.
But the project has angered Russia, which sees the deployment in its former Soviet backyard as a threat to its own security.
