NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer will visit the United States on Thursday and Friday in preparations for the upcoming NATO summit scheduled for early April, the military alliance announced Wednesday.
During the visit, Scheffer will hold talks with U.S. President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and National Security Advisor Steve Hadley.
The U.S. missile defense plan to be implemented in Eastern Europe, namely the Czech Republic and Poland, Afghanistan, Kosovo are expected to dominate the talks between the NATO chief and the U.S. side.
On Tuesday, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said the Czech Republic and the United States may sign a treaty on the possible location of the U.S.-planned missile defense radar base on the Czech territory at the April 2-4 NATO summit in Bucharest, or shortly before or after it.
Topolanek is scheduled to meet with Bush in Washington on Wednesday to discuss the missile defense issue.
Russia is strongly opposed to the U.S. plan to build a radar base in the Czech Republic and an interceptor missile base in Poland. The issue has partly strained relations between Moscow and Washington.
Source: Xinhua
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