WASHINGTON, August 1. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with representatives of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) States to declare the United States’ commitment to the treaty, Ned Price, spokesman for the US Department of State, said on Monday.
"Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with a group of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) States Parties today on the margins of the 10th Review Conference in New York. They discussed working towards a positive, consensus outcome that strengthens all three pillars of the NPT: nonproliferation, disarmament, and peaceful uses of nuclear energy," he said. ·"The Secretary underscored the U.S. commitment to the NPT, which has never been more important to international peace and security and to the rules-based international order."
The Review Conference for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is organized every fifth year. The tenth conference was originally planned to be held in New York in May 2020 but was postponed to August 1-26, 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Treaty was signed in 1968 and legalized nuclear arsenals of the United Kingdom, China, Russia, the United States, and France. Other signatory states are obliged not to develop or purchase weapons of mass destruction. More than 190 states have signed the Treaty. However, Israel, India, and Pakistan are not its parties. In January 2003, North Korea withdrew from the Treaty.