To properly address the serious nonproliferation challenges posed by the AUKUS nuclear submarine cooperation, a member-state-led intergovernmental review process is the only viable solution at the Agency to address the challenge of nuclear proliferation as a result of AUKUS cooperation.

At the Agency’s Board of Governors meeting last November, at the suggestion of China, the Agency's Board of Governors adopted by consensus a separate formal item devoted to the “Transfer of the nuclear materials in the context of AUKUS and its safeguards in all aspects under the NPT”, initiating an intergovernmental review process led by the Agency's Member States.

This intergovernmental review process has not yet been as effective as it should be, despite six consecutive deliberations at the Agency’s Board of Governors and the General Conference. In essence, the foremost substantive reason is the lack of necessary information and data. To date, Australia has not supplied the necessary information by declaring all aspects of nuclear submarine cooperation to the Agency as required by the CSA and the AP. This virtually makes it impossible for Member States to advance the review and consultation process in a well-informed and substantive manner. Secondly, it is attributable to a lack of common political will on the part of the three countries. They have engaged in political maneuvering and cynical shenanigans in an attempt to replace the open and transparent intergovernmental process with secretive and opaque bilateral and so-called technical consultations between the three countries and the Secretariat to the exclusion of the wider membership of the Agency. Their objective remains to eventually present the so-called safeguards "arrangements" as a fait accompli to Member States of the Agency. 

In view of the nuclear proliferation nature and the serious negative impact of the cooperation among the three countries on nuclear submarines, the three countries should immediately stop the relevant cooperation. If the three countries do not stop the above-mentioned cooperation, it is the responsibility and obligation of all Member States of the Agency to continue to address this important issue, which concerns the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and the common interests of all Member States, through the intergovernmental review process, to reach a solution by consensus and submit recommendations to the Agency's Board of Governors and the General Assembly accordingly.