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The Senate of the Italian Parliament voted on 24 July 2003 to ratify the Protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty on Accession of the seven countries - Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia - invited to join NATO at last year's NATO Prague Summit. The law on ratification of the Protocols must now be signed by the Italian President. Latvia's membership in NATO has to date been formally endorsed by eight current members of the Alliance - Canada, Norway, the United States, Denmark, Hungary, Germany, Luxembourg and Italy. The Protocols on Accession remain to be ratified by another eleven NATO member states. A vote on ratification is expected this week in the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. (end of text)
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