The five years following the 2000 NPT Review Conference had seen several challenges to the international nuclear non-proliferation regime, including the announced withdrawal from the NPT by the DPRK, increasingly divergent views among States over the right to master all phases of the nuclear fuel cycle, increasingly divergent views between NWS and NNWS on nuclear disarmament obligations, and increasingly conflicting views among States on how to pursue nuclear non-proliferation. All this contributed to a climate not conducive to reaching a consensus agreement at the 2005 NPT Review Conference.

Although adopted by the Conference on the last day of the sessions, the 2005 NPT Review Conference Final Document contained little more than a list of participants, officials and documents from the Conference. With regard to the CTBT, the overwhelming majority of States Parties wished to include a strong endorsement for the CTBT in the Final Document. Delegates addressing the Conference noted the promise of a nuclear test ban in the Preamble of the NPT, as well as the decisions adopted at previous Conferences related to the CTBT.