Prague - Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman arrived Wednesday in Prague for talks with his outgoing Czech counterpart Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country presides over the European Union until June 30, Prague's Israeli embassy said.

Lieberman, on his first foreign trip since taking office in March, arrived in the Czech Republic after visits to Italy and France and ahead of a visit to Berlin Thursday.

The Czech Foreign Ministry said the top diplomats would discuss the stalled Middle East peace process, halted Israeli-Syrian peace talks and Israel's settlement activity, which the EU has criticized.

While in Prague, sources said, Lieberman also planned to meet the EU's top diplomat Javier Solana.

The EU has urged the new Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes Lieberman's hardline nationalist party, to adhere to the 2007 Annapolis peace process, which formed the basis of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in 2008.

The meeting agreed that creating a Palestinian state should be part of the solution to the lengthy Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Upon assuming office, Lieberman said that the Annapolis talks had no validity for the new Israeli government.

Instead, he said, Israel subscribes to a peace roadmap from 2003, which required Palestinians to tame militants before getting their own state.

EU officials have recently squabbled over whether to turn progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks into a condition for an upgrade of its ties with Israel.

EU's External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said that the boost in ties should be linked to the talks, while outgoing Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who chairs the council of the EU leaders until Friday, urged going ahead without the condition.

The EU members approved Israel's request to boost trade and research ties in June 2008 but the initiative has not moved forward since Israel's Gaza offensive at the turn of the year.

The EU has also criticized Israel over demolishing Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem and expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank. (dpa)