Latvian Foreign Minister Indulis Bērziņš has thanked the American Jewish Committee for its support of expanding the NATO defense alliance.

Bērziņš, according to an Aug. 20 foreign ministry press release, sent a letter to the Washington, D.C.-based organization in response to the committee’s July 30 announcement urging expansion.

Bērziņš’ letter came a day after a Riga-based group, the Jewish Survivors of Latvia, said it sent a letter to President George Bush and members of the U.S. Senate urging that Latvia not be allowed into NATO, according to Latvian media reports.

Although the American Jewish Committee supports Latvia’s and other nations’ efforts to join NATO, the committee also said the countries should “redouble their efforts in the months ahead to complete the still open process of restituting Jewish communal property and preserving Holocaust memory and its integrity.”