The Czech Republic and the United States achieved significant progress on the talks about the SOFA treaty that defines the legal framework of the planned U.S. radar base on Czech soil, a Czech government official said on Thursday.
The negotiators achieved significant progress including the closure of the theme of criminal jurisdiction, but the talks will continue, Vladimir Lukovsky from the Defense Ministry press and information service said.
There are still discrepancies on whether the suppliers of goods and services for the military base will pay the income tax, the Czech news agency CTK reported.
The representatives of the two countries have come to discuss SOFA (Strategic Framework and the Status of Forces Agreement) bilateral treaty, a complementary agreement of the main treaty, for the seventh time.
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said previously that the SOFA treaty could be signed along with the main agreement on the radar installation in early May.
The main agreement has already been completed. Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are to sign it at the beginning of May.
Both agreements need to be approved by the Czech parliament.
The United States plans to build a radar base in the Brdy military district, some 90 kilometers southwest of the capital Prague, along with an interceptor missile base in neighboring Poland.
Some 70 percent of Czech citizens are opposed to the project.
Source:Xinhua
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