The chair of the U.N. review conference of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) admitted Friday that four weeks of talks had failed to improve international measures to rid the world of nuclear weapons, dpa reported. Sergio Duarte told a plenary session concluding the 188-nation NPT conference at U.N. headquarters in New York that no consensus had been reached on a final declaration even though agreements were achieved on minor issues not related to disarmament. Duarte said the three main committees that conducted closed-door discussions failed to produce texts that would form the basis for the final declaration. Those committees dealt with nuclear disarmament and security assurances, creation of a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The conference was aimed at reviewing the NPT, which entered into force in 1970. NPT members had been reviewing the effectiveness of the treaty every five years. --SP 2255 Local Time 1955 GMT
