Lieutenant General Valeri Chkheidze explained to journalists in Tbilisi on 19 October the precise provisions of the agreement he and his Russian counterpart Colonel General Konstantin Totskii signed in Yerevan two days earlier, Russian and Georgian news agencies reported. Chkheidze said that Russian and Georgian border guards will not conduct any joint patrols, nor will they patrol each other's territory, but will coordinate between themselves which sectors of the border to patrol. After such patrols, senior officers will meet to exchange information. A hotline is also to be set up to connect Russian and Georgian border posts. Chkheidze said that a plan for cooperation in 2003 will be drafted by the end of the year. Speaking in Tbilisi on 18 October, Georgian Foreign Ministry spokesman Kakha Sikharulidze hailed the 17 October agreement as the first real step toward cooperation between the two sides. (Caucasus Press)