WARSAW, November 21 (RIA Novosti) - Poland is ready to wait patiently for the new U.S. administration to decide the fate of the planned U.S. missile defense shield in Central Europe, the foreign minister said Friday.

"If we signed an agreement we view as a beneficial one, we would like the agreement to be fulfilled. But we should be realists," Radoslaw Sikorski, said during a visit to Washington, adding that Poland hopes bilateral cooperation would strengthen regardless of the decision.

Sikorski said the new administration wants to study any serious project demanding big funding and make sure it is expedient.

"The establishment of a new U.S. administration always lasts several months. We need to be patient," the minister said.

The United States intends to deploy a radar in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland, citing concerns over an assumed missile threat from Iran. Russia has opposed the U.S. plans saying they threaten Russia's security.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev earlier threatened to deploy Iskander-M short-range missiles in the country's Kaliningrad exclave, which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania, if the U.S. missile defense system was deployed in Central Europe.

After Barack Obama's U.S. presidential election victory, one of his foreign policy advisers said the president-elect was not committed to the missile shield, and would only continue with the project if its effectiveness was proven.