Latvia backs Georgia's accession into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Latvian parliament said in a statement on Thursday.

The statement called for positive comment from NATO members at next week's summit on Georgia's effort to join NATO. It also urged NATO leaders to provide further support for Latvia to become a member of NATO as well as the European Union and cross-Atlantic organizations at an early date.

The statement said that the unresolved disputes in South Ossetia and Abhkhazia would deteriorate the region's situation, and suggests that Russia should participate into resolving the conflict in a more constructive way.

It stressed that to enter into the Europe-Atlantic incorporation process, Georgia has carried out reforms in politics, economy, military and other fields, which has already yielded results.

At the end of this September, NATO announced that it would speed up the dialogue with Georgia on the country's admission into the bloc, a key phase to join NATO.

NATO was scheduled to hold a summit in Riga on Nov. 28-29 at which the relations between the bloc and Georgia would be one of the major topics of discussion.

(Xinhua News Agency November 24, 2006)