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NPT members voice concern about maintenance of nuclear weapons

jelveh20130504040532623The members of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) have voiced concern over the maintenance of nuclear weapons at high-alert level.

In a statement, some 106 of the 190 member states of the NPT also expressed alarm over the continued modernization of nuclear weapons, their delivery systems and related infrastructure.

The NPT came into effect in 1970 to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, but some countries still possess nuclear weapons, said the statement.

Nations have reaffirmed their commitment to the treaty in order to seek a safer world for all and to achieve peace and security without nuclear weapons, the statement added.

The NPT is an international treaty, whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament.

One hundred and ninety parties have joined the NPT since it came into force, with five states, namely the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China, being recognized as nuclear-weapon states.

The Israeli regime, which is widely believed to possess between 200 to 400 nuclear warheads, is a non-signatory to the NPT and continues to defy international calls to join it.

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