Iraqi National Security Advisor Muwaffaq al- Rubaie said Sunday that his country will start negotiations with Britain on having an agreement for the withdrawal of British troops from the country, dpa reported.
"Iraq will start a series of negotiations with the British side to sign a deal on the withdrawal of British forces and the deal will be referred to parliament to pass it or turn it down," Rubaie told reporters during his visit to the holy Shiite city of Karbala.
He did not reveal when will the negations start, the Voices of Iraq news agency reported.
Rubaie added that two cabinet committees under Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had been formed to follow up the plan on the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.
Last week, the Iraqi parliament approved a US security pact that authorizes US troops' presence after the UN mandate under which they are operating expires and also sets a timeline for US withdrawal from Iraq.
The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) states that US forces will exit Iraqi cities by the end of June 2009 and leave the country entirely by 2011.
Britain, the main ally for the US in the war on Iraq, has 4,100 soldiers stationed in the British base at the Basra International Airport, 25 kilometres north-west of the city.