In the 2010 Final Document of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, NPT States Parties agreed to convene a conference in 2012 on establishing a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the Middle East in accordance with the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference decision. This event did not take place as planned in Helsinki in 2012 or later, despite the efforts of the Finnish Facilitator, Amb. Jaakko Laajaava, who conducted consultations with states of the region and the Convenors of the conference (Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States). This issue figured high on the agenda of the 2015 NPT Review Conference in New York from 28 April to 9 May 2015. This side-event addressed possible ways and means of overcoming the obstacles that have prevented such a conference from taking place and still remain to be overcome.
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