Mexico City will next week host a United Nations-sponsored annual conference on disarmament, which is to be attended by delegates from 70 countries, according to dpa. Representatives of 1,700 non-government organizations are expected to attend the conference on Wednesday and Thursday. The outcome of the discussions, which will range from better monitoring of small arms to getting rid of arsenals of nuclear weapons, would contribute to the review of the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty at the UN next year and other disarmament debates. The UN said the participants will discuss "how they can contribute to reducing arms while advancing peace." Mexico City is the birthplace of the Treaty of Tlatelolco, the world's first nuclear-free zone agreement applied in Latin America in 1969.
