New Zealand is at the forefront of efforts to breathe new life into the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The country's ambassador to Geneva is heading up a coalition of seven countries trying to break a feud between the world's nuclear "haves" and "have nots".
Don MacKay says the strategy is to build bridges between the two sides at a meeting of 180 nations this week as part of the 'New Agenda Coalition'. NZ joins Mexico, Norway, Ireland, Brazil, Sweden, and South Africa in those trying to defuse the resentment and mistrust between developed and developing nations.
Established nuclear powers are asserting that the task of any review will be to toughen curbs on transfers of potentially harmful nuclear technology.
But developing nations say they have a right under the Treaty to benefit from the peaceful use of atomic energy, and that those rich nations have not done away with their arsenals as required under the Act. '
All countries on the New Agenda Coalition favour disarmament.
