Sparks likely to fly over 'secret nuclear weapons programme'

New York: Delegates from 189 nations are to convene at the United Nations headquarters on Monday for a twice-a-decade marathon of diplomacy and deal-making over the 40-year-old treaty designed to check the spread of nuclear weapons worldwide.

The presence of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the only head of state taking part, looked set to ensure sharp words would fly about Tehran's nuclear programme and Israel's secret bombs, as well as over treaty outsider North Korea and the huge US and Russian nuclear arsenals.

But the conference's Filipino president put the month-long talks in a more amiable light.

"It's like a recommitment of marriage vows to the treaty, as the cornerstone of nuclear disarmament, nonproliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy," Ambassador Libran N. Cabactulan said.

Cabactulan said the top goal of many treaty nations was to press the NPT nuclear powers — including Britain, France and China —to move more rapidly toward disarmament.

The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) is the world's single most important pact on nuclear arms, credited with preventing their spread to dozens of nations since entering into force in 1970.

Treaty members — every nation but India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea — gather every five years to review its effectiveness, and agree on new approaches to problems.

Cabactulan indicated he hoped this month's talks would make progress on declaring the Middle East as a zone free of nuclear weapons. The 1995 NPT Review Conference adopted this as a goal.

In exchange, Arab nations backed a permanent extension of the NPT.

However after 15 years of inaction on a nuclear-free Middle East, Egypt has proposed the 2010 conference endorse launching such negotiations next year.

Weapons curb: Treaty up for review

 The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), designed to curb the spread of nuclear weapons, will be reviewed at a UN conference from Monday through to May 28. It came into force in 1970 and has been signed by 190 countries, including the five recognised nuclear weapon states: the United States, Russia, Britain, France, and China. North Korea withdrew from it in 2003.