The P5 Process and the NPT Review Process
Megan Dee examines how the P5 Process can stay relevant to the NPT review process at a time of deep division among the nuclear-weapon states.
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The UK launched the Process in 2009 to reassure non-nuclear-weapon states that the five took their disarmament obligations seriously. Since 2022 it has met less often and at a lower level, and it has produced no joint statements or working papers. That silence feeds frustration among states that already know little about what goes on in the room. Dee recommends telling NPT members when meetings take place and what they cover, preparing at least a simple joint reaffirmation of the Treaty, and steering clear of the public blame games that have polarised recent review conferences.
This paper forms part of a guest series by academics and experts on nuclear non-proliferation, arms control and risk reduction, written for the British Foreign Policy Group. The papers are published to encourage debate and understanding and do not represent the views of BFPG. You can read them all here.