The VI NPT Review Conference14 held in 2000, was marked by the commitment of the five nuclear powers acknowledged by the treaty to completely eliminate their atomic arsenals. In this meeting, the nuclear states agreed to the Thirteen Practical Steps for Nuclear Disarmament, which are systematic and progressive efforts for implementing Article VI of the NPT. CHAPTER 2 — THE 21st CENTURY STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT The Thirteen Steps to Nuclear Disarmament — VI NPT Review Conference 1. Sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. 2. Stop testing nuclear weapons. 3. Negotiate a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty. 4. Establish a body within the Conference on Disarmament to deal with nuclear disarmament. 5. Agree nuclear disarmament must be irreversible. 6. Abolish nuclear weapons. 7. Uphold existing treaties, including the Strategic Arms Treaty (START) II and III and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM). 8. Implement and complete the Trilateral Initiative between the United States, the Russian Federation and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 9. Implement a step-by-step approach to achieve nuclear disarmament. 10. Place excess fissile materials under IAEA control. 11. Reaffirm general and complete disarmament, under effective international control, as the ultimate objective of states. 12. Report regularly on progress toward nuclear disarmament. 13. Further develop verification capabilities to assure compliance with nuclear disarmament agreements. NPT Article VIII states that, “Five years after the entry into force of this Treaty, a conference of Parties to the Treaty shall be held in Geneva, Switzerland, in order to review the operation of this Treaty with a view to assuring that the purposes of the Preamble and the provisions of the Treaty are being realized. At intervals of five years thereafter, a majority of the Parties to the Treaty may obtain, by submitting a proposal to this effect to the Depositary Governments, the convening of further conferences with the same objective of reviewing the operation of the Treaty”. The first NPT Review Conference was held in 1975. During the 8th NPT Review Conference, held in May 2010, a new Action Plan was adopted, with 64 steps to be complied with by the NPT member-states in the areas of non-proliferation, disarmament and nuclear energy, with special emphasis on nuclear disarmament. The 9th NPT Review Conference will be held in 2015. 14 42 DEFENSE WHITE PAPER