Czech Rep bids to host Nato's anti-chemical warfare HQ

PRAGUE (CNI)--The Czech Republic wants to locate the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's (Nato’s) anti-chemical warfare unit on its territory.

Czech Premier Vladimir Spidla met US President George Bush in Prague on Wednesday to offer his country as Nato's command centre to counter weapons of mass destruction.

Nearly 50 heads of state are meeting in Prague for the Nato summit, in which the alliance’s future role will be discussed.

The alliance of 19 member states will also expand its frontiers, asking seven former eastern bloc nations to join.

Bush’s vision is for each Nato member to make a specialist contribution as part of a strategy to deal with major threats such as global terrorism.

The Czech Republic as a Nato member state intends to focus above all on protection against chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Czech president Vaclav Havel said on Wednesday: "If the alliance is to be meaningful today, it must be … capable of confronting modern dangers such as terrorism and nuclear, chemical or bacteriological weapons."