The U.S. State Department said efforts for reaching a missile-defense agreement with Poland would go on in spite of an undetermined meeting regarding the issue Monday morning between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski.

After their meeting behind closed doors, the Polish foreign minister told the press that some productive ideas were exchanged and that he was not in Washington to "salvage" the missile defense talks since the negotiations have been ongoing and will continue.

According to Sean McCormack, State Department spokesman, Sikorski would also meet with chief U.S. arms negotiator John Rood and that the possibilities to reach an agreement are still at hand:

"We are continuing to work on these negotiations," said McCormack. "We didn't conclude them in time for the beginning of the secretary's travel. That doesn't mean we're not going to keep working on it. It is an important issue for Poland. It's an important issue for the United States, and it's an important issue for NATO as well NATO has given its endorsement of this missile defense effort so we're going to continue working on it."

The negotiations have encountered difficulties because of Poland’s pushing for a high-priced U.S. upgrade of its air defense system as the condition for allowing to base the 10 interceptors as part of the missile shield defense.

According to state officials last week an attempt of an accord had been developed but Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk later reassessed the situation and qualified the American offer on the table as unsatisfactory.

The same Monday, after her encounter with Sikorski, State Secretary Rice left for the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Georgia and perhaps Poland on a trip that demonstrates their deepening U.S. ties despite Russia's objections.

The main purpose of Rice's trip is the signing of an accord in Prague, on Tuesday, according to which the U.S. is allowed to base radar in the Czech Republic, as part of the missile shield, in order to protect the United States and its allies from attack by what it calls "rogue" states, including Iran.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said last week that his government would sign a deal with the United States on installing a U.S. missile defense radar, mentioning during a visit to the ex-Soviet nation of Azerbaijan that the Czech-U.S. meeting on the matter would take place on July 8 or 9.

The missile defense plan is politically unpopular in Poland and the Czech Republic, while Russia has firmly been stated its against position regarding the placement of the system in Europe, arguing, even if U.S. denies, that it would threaten its strategic deterrent.

Majority Democrats in Congress have also expressed their criticizing views, making accusation to the Bush administration of attempting to speed the deployment of unproven technology.

Current legislation links funding of the program to Pentagon certification that missile interceptors have passed exigent testing.