Under Article VII of the NPT, it is specifically recognized that a group of States have a right to conclude regional treaties ‘in order to assure the absence of nuclear weapons in their respective territories’. Thus, when a NNWS is giving consideration to building its first nuclear power plant, as part of the decision process they should also consider the impact that any relevant regional treaty will have.

Today, there are a number of regional treaties dealing with nuclear- weapon-free zones, each of which obligates the Parties to conclude a com­prehensive safeguards agreement with the IAEA. Examples of regional treaties with the goal of establishing a nuclear-weapon-free zone include the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America (Tlatelolco Treaty)[14], the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (Pelindaba Treaty)[15], the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Bangkok)[16], the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone

Treaty (CANWFZ or Treaty of Semipalatinsk)8 and the South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone Treaty (Rarotonga Treaty).9