A landmark conference on curbing the spread of nuclear arms has agreed on talks towards the establishment of a nuclear weapons free zone in the Middle-East. The decision was crucial to the success of a month-long conference on strengthening the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, the cornerstone of global disarmament efforts. For that reason, the United States supported the move, but criticised it for singling out Israel. The final consensus text includes a call to hold talks in 2012 on a ban on nuclear weapons in the Middle East. The five official nuclear-weapon states – the US, UK, Russia, China and France – also agreed to speed up arms cuts.