The sides hope to sign the agreement in the nearest future, the Foreign Ministry said.
The delegations were headed by Russian Foreign Ministry's special envoy for relations with the CIS, ambassador at large Igor Savolsky and Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Merab Antadze.
Currently two Russian military bases remain in Georgia, particularly in Akhalkalaki and Batumi. The decision on the withdrawal of the Russian military bases from Georgia was made at the OSCE summit in Istanbul in 1999. The timeframe for the withdrawal became a stumbling block in the Russian-Georgian relations. The Russian Defense Ministry stated at that time that the bases would be removed not earlier than in three or four years. The Georgian side in its turn insisted that the Russian soldiers should leave Georgia no later than January 1, 2008. As a result of the disagreement Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili refused the invitation to attend this year's V-E Day celebrations in Moscow.
During the negotiations on May 30, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili agreed that Russia would withdraw its bases from Georgia in 2008.
According to the agreement, all military facilities except for the bases will be passed to Georgia in 2005. Military hardware will be removed from the Akhalkalaki base (near the Armenian border) in 2006 and the base itself will be closed in 2007. The remaining military hardware will be removed from the base in Batumi (a port on the Black Sea) in 2008 and the base will be closed.
