“Secretary General António Guterres expresses his disappointment that the 10th Interfactorial Conference on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was unable to reach a consensus,” said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary-General.

The Secretary General welcomes the sincere and focused engagement of all parties and the fact that the Conference has recognized the Treaty as the cornerstone of the global disarmament and non-proliferation system, but regrets that it (the Conference) has failed to respond to the urgent challenges that threaten our collective security,” reads the statement.

Dujarric noted that Guterres stressed that the complex international environment and the growing risk of the use of nuclear weapons, by accident or miscalculation, require urgent and decisive action. It also “calls on all countries to use all means of dialogue, diplomacy and negotiation to reduce tensions, reduce nuclear risks and eliminate the nuclear threat once and for all.”

“Creating a world free of nuclear weapons remains the top priority of the United Nations in the field of disarmament, a goal to which the Secretary-General remains firmly committed.”

It is noteworthy that this is the second conference in a row to review the operation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and the participating States fail to come to a final document on it.

In 2015, the previous conference was held, and the then disagreements about the need to rid the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction were resolved without coming to the final document of the conference.

Since the treaty entered into force in 1970, the treaty’s signatories hold a conference every 5 years to review its implementation.

The Treaty aims to strengthen cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy for the purpose of nuclear disarmament throughout the world.