By Louis Charbonneau

BREMEN, Germany, March 31 (Reuters) - The Czech foreign minister said on Saturday he would listen to Russian concerns over a planned U.S. missile shield but they were of marginal importance.

The United States wants to deploy a radar system in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland by 2011-12. Washington says this missile shield system would counter threats from "rogue states" like Iran and North Korea.

Russia regards the missile shield as an encroachment on its former sphere of influence and says it could undermine global non-proliferation.

"Of course we pay due attention to every voice concerning this, including that of the Russian Federation," Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg told Reuters.

"Nevertheless it is not up to them to decide what we shall do or not do. Of course I'm reading the reactions with interest, but it doesn't influence me too much."

This week Prague formally agreed to begin talks on the radar which Washington hopes to begin building next year.

Polish Foreign Minister Anna Elzbieta Fotyga told Reuters at the same European Union summit that Warsaw would be ready "in the near future" to open talks with Washington.

"We are almost ready to start the negotiations," she said.

Schwarzenberg, who left the meeting early, said the missile shield issue was not raised in his presence in Bremen.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who chaired the Bremen meeting, said the issue was mentioned briefly and ministers had agreed the NATO defence alliance should take up the discussion.

Schwarzenberg made it clear he was willing to discuss the issue both at NATO level and in the EU.

In Germany leaders of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition partners, have said the U.S. project could provoke a new arms race between Russia and the West.

Steinmeier, an SPD member, has said Washington risked paying a steep price to protect itself against non-existent threats.

Schwarzenberg said he and Steinmeier would probably meet soon to discuss the issue.

"The sceptical or contra voices of responsible persons have become rather muted in the last weeks. Even those who in the beginning were very sceptical now sound slightly different," he said. (Additional reporting by Ingrid Melander)

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