Signed in 1968, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) provides that signatory nations without nuclear weapons will not seek to build them and will accept safeguards to prevent diversion of nuclear material and technology from peaceful uses to a weapons program. States possessing nuclear weapons at the signing of the NPT agreed not to help non-nuclear states gain access to nuclear weapons, but to offer them access to peaceful nuclear technology. All states agree to work towards the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons.