Deputies voted at a special session of parliament on 21 March by 138 in favor with one vote against to ratify the military cooperation agreement with the United States signed in December 2002. The agreement exempts U.S. military personnel from visa requirements and grants them privileges and immunities comparable to those extended to U.S. diplomats. Parliament speaker Nino Burdjanadze expressed reservations that the agreement had been drafted and signed without parliament being consulted and warned that it might prove necessary in the future to amend it. Parliament failed to ratify the agreement in a vote in late February. (Caucasus Press)