BAGHDAD , Iraq ( CNN ) -- Iraq has signed troop withdrawal agreements that will have British and Australian troops out of the country by the end of July , Iraqi Defense Ministry said . A British soldier stands guard outside as Iraqi teens look on . Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul Qadir Mohammed Jasim signed the agreements on Tuesday with UK Ambassador Christopher Prentice and Australian ambassador Robert Tyson . Iraq 's Presidency Council approved a resolution Sunday to allow non-U.S. troops to remain in the county after a U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year . It was the last step for final adoption of the resolution , which won parliamentary approval last week . The resolution was hammered out by Iraq 's main political parties earlier in December after an impasse among parliamentary factions that threatened to push it beyond the deadline . Britain has 4,100 troops in Iraq , the second-largest contingent after the United States with 142,500 . Other countries covered under the new resolution -- El Salvador , Australia , Romania and Estonia -- now have just several hundred troops in the country combined . The resolution authorizes Iraq to negotiate bilateral agreements with the countries , said Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman . If it had not been approved by the end of the year , those countries would have been in Iraq illegally . The United States concluded a separate agreement in November with the Iraqi government authorizing the continued presence of its troops . U.S. combat forces plan to pull back from population centers in Iraq by July 2009 and to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011 . The British government says its forces will complete their mission of training Iraqi troops by May 31 , 2009 , and withdraw from the country by July 31 , 2009 . The precise timing of the Australian withdrawal was not immediately known . CNN 's Yousif Bassil contributed to this report .
British , Australian troops to leave Iraq by mid-2009 , Iraqi Defense Ministry says . Britain has 4,100 troops in Iraq , the second - largest force behind U.S. Coalition forces plan to withdraw from Iraq by end of April .