(TBILISI) - Russia's agreement to pull its troops from all of Georgia except two rebel regions is only a "beginning", Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Tuesday.

Any any long-term solution had to respect his country's territorial integrity, he told reporters at an early morning news conference.

"We are simply at the very beginning of this major task and there is still a lot to be done," Saakashvili said after meeting a European Union delegation led by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"We must continue to implement the European solution to reach a definitive solution respecting Georgia's territorial integrity and the principle of justice for our country and for our region," he added.

Saakashvili said a summit, largely focused on reconstruction, would be held in Tbilisi next month with the participation of Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and representatives of international financial organisations.

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso expressed the EU's "solidarity" with Georgia and pledged closer ties.

"Georgia can count on the solidarity and the determined engagement of the European Union in these difficult hours. The EU is ready to deepen its political and economic relations with Georgia," Barroso said.

Sarkozy, meanwhile, warned that the EU would "draw the conclusions" from a Russian failure to meet its commitments to a troop withdrawal.

"By October 15 there must not be a single Russian soldier in positions where they were not before August 7," he said. "If it is not done... Europe will draw the conclusions."

Sarkozy also said that 200 EU observers expected in Georgia before October 1 would operate under the mandates of the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and could be expected to enter the rebel regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Visiting Russia earlier Monday the delegation received a pledge from President Dmitry Medvedev that all Russian troops would be withdrawn over the next month from Georgia except for those in Abkhazia and South Ossetia -- two rebel Georgian regions that Russia has recognised as independent.

Russian tanks and troops surged into Georgia on August 8 to rebuff a Georgian offensive to retake South Ossetia.

Moscow argued that the action was to protect thousands of people to whom it had granted Russian citizenship since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Hundreds of people on both sides are estimated to have been killed in the conflict, which wrought extensive destruction on the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali. Tens of thousands fled their homes.

Text and Picture Copyright 2008 AFP. All other Copyright 2008 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.