With less than two months to go until the new US president's first visit to Europe, Czech officials are pushing for an EU-US meeting to be held in Prague.

"It's our impression that the new administration doesn't just care about the fat cats - Germany, France and Britain - but they care about the small countries, too," Czech foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, told the International Herald Tribune newspaper.

The Czechs would like Barack Obama to send a signal to smaller EU countries from Russia's former sphere of influence

"It's important that the United States also do this in a country that 20 years ago belonged to the Soviet pact," he added. Mr Schwarzenberg noted that an Obama visit to Prague would be an important message to Moscow, which continues to view the Czech Republic and Poland as part of an "eastern zone."

During his trip to Europe, Mr Obama will first go to London on 2 April, where he will attend the Group of 20 large industrialized countries (G20) meeting scheduled to discuss overhauling the global financial system.