The Review Conference convened on its last day at the hour announced for the purpose of adopting by consensus the Draft Final Document that had been distributed to the States Parties only. Adoption by consensus implied that there was no more room for discussion on any individual matter contained in that Document: the entire ‘Draft Final Document’ had to be agreed as such.
To the surprise of a majority of Participants - and most if not all NGO observers- the Head of the delegation of the United States declared that though her Government was committed to the ‘humanitarian pledge’ ,supported the Treaty , which remained a cornerstone of non-proliferation, peaceful uses and disarmament , her Government was not able to join the consensus on the Draft Final Document in view of her Governments disagreement with the content of Paragraphs 164 –171 of the Draft Final Documents . “The Middle East, particularly implementation of the 1995 Resolution on the Middle East”. She referred in this context inter alia to the “arbitrary (–i.e. early) - dates, and unrealistic and unworkable conditions for the negotiations ”... as well as to the content of paragraph 164 - “[T]he 1995 Resolution remains valid until its goals and objectives are achieved ”, including tasking the UN Secretary General with convening no later than 1 March 2016 an international conference on a zone free of nuclear weapons (and of all other weapons of mass destruction) in the Middle East. “the mandate of 2010 had expired”.
The United Kingdom and Canada - reiterating their support of the ‘three pillars’ of the Treaty stressing the importance of the Treaty- ,- joined the US in refusing consensus adoption of the Draft Final Document and expressing similar reservations as the US.
The absence of consensus thus concluded the 2015 NPT Review Conference – as had been the case of the2005 Review Conference –invalidating thereby the “Draft Final Document” in its entirety. A large number of Delegations expressed disappointment and deep regret at this failure... an ‘avoidable stalemate’. A strictly formal conclusion was read by the President of the Conference, Ambassador Taous Feroukhi (Algeria).