The eighth Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference will open at U.N. headquarters in New York on Monday.

The upcoming meeting will evaluate the efforts made by the 189 states party to the treaty in implementing the agreement over the past five years. Participants will also discuss ways to strengthen the NPT system.

The meeting will also discuss ways to prevent member states from voluntarily withdrawing from the treaty, as was the case with North Korea. The communist state carried out two nuclear tests after it declared it was breaking away from the NPT in 2003.

North Korea will not be taking part in the upcoming meeting while President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, which is suspected of developing nuclear weapons, is expected to attend the conference.