Over three dozen senior diplomats, several nongovernmental experts, as well as the heads of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), met in Baden, Austria, on June 14-15 to analyze the outcome of the 2015 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The conference was the second, annual retreat organized by the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (VCDNP) with the support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Austrian Ministry for Europe, Integration, and Foreign Affairs.
This year's retreat featured the president of the 2015 NPT Review Conference, Ambassador Taous Feroukhi, the chairman of the three main committees (Ambassadors Enrique Roman-Morey, Cristian Istrate, and David Stuart), the chairman of Subsidiary Body 1 (Ambassador Benno Laggner), as well as IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano and CTBTO Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo.
In his opening address, CNS Director William Potter analyzed the process and product of the 2015 Review Conference and its implications for the future of the nonproliferation regime. Other sessions focused specifically on the impact of the review conference on nuclear disarmament, nonproliferation, peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and a weapons-of-mass-destruction-free zone in the Middle East.
The Baden diplomatic workshop also served as the first major event hosted by the VCDNP under the new leadership of Laura Rockwood, who assumed the post of executive director on June 1. Her predecessor, Elena Sokova, also participated in the Baden meeting.
