UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday highlighted the importance of a successful review conference of the landmark Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which entered into force 40 years ago. "I would like to underscore the importance of a successful review conference" next May, the UN secretary general said in a statement issued at UN headquarters.
Ban, who was on a tour of earthquake-hit Chile, noted that the NPT "has remained the cornerstone of the nuclear non-proliferation regime, the foundation for the pursuit of nuclear disarmament, and a framework for promoting the peaceful uses of nuclear energy."
Review conferences have been held every five years since the treaty was ratified in 1970. There are currently 189 signatory countries. The previous review conference in May 2005 ended in disarray, with no agreement from the participants.
Israel, widely believed to have a sizeable nuclear arsenal, has refused to sign the NPT, as have both India and Pakistan, two regional powers which gate-crashed the nuclear club in 1998 by conducting tit-for-tat underground tests and which have fought wars against one another in the past. North Korea, which has conducted two nuclear tests since 2006, withdrew from the NPT in 2003.