The NPT Treaty has been hailed as the cornerstone of the international nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament regime. It is, equally, regarded as the embodiment of the efforts by the international community in facilitating safeguarded co-operation in peaceful applications of nuclear technology, preventing spread of nuclear weapons, and striving towards disarmament. In May of 2010, 172 States - Parties to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) - convened at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York to review the functioning of the Treaty. The '2010 Review Conference’ was called to assess the implementation of the provisions of the NPT in relation to its three pillars:

• Nuclear Disarmament;
• Non-proliferation of nuclear weapons;
• Research, development, and peaceful uses of Nuclear Energy.

For the past forty years, the Treaty has been most successful in containing horizontal proliferation - the spread of nuclear weapons to Non-Nuclear-Weapon States. To date, no NPT State Party (except North Korea) has acquired nuclear weapons' technology. The de facto nuclear States - India, Israel and Pakistan - have always been outside the NPT. The Treaty has, thus, served the primary purpose of what the initial drafting Parties - USA and USSR - intended.