After a month of intense negotiations, the eighth Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference ended on 28 May2010 with an agreement unanimously welcomed by the 189 States parties to the Treaty. The final declaration reaffirmed the central role of the NPT as the cornerstone of the Non-proliferation regime and nuclear disarmament. It also reinstated the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as the main United Nations watchdog after a period of groundless criticism.

The negotiations within the three committees (disarmament, Non-Proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear energy) started under good auspices and with the same and unique goal: to make significant progress. However, the reality of international relations overtook the statements of principles and the five nuclear States (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) dismissed some interesting proposals such as the adoption of deadlines about their disarmament process. Besides the disarmament of the five nuclear States, the negotiations focused on five other important topics: the role of the IAEA, the opportunity for a Middle East nuclear weapons free zone, the peaceful use of nuclear energy, the universality of the NPT and the right to withdraw from the Treaty.

The first chapter of this report examines the proposals made during the three preparatory meetings between 2007 and 2009. The second one focuses on the outcomes of the 2010 NPT Review Conference. It also highlights the evolution between the initial proposals and the final results after one month of tough debates. The last part of this report underscores some external events that could disturb the negotiations.

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