2014 Wales Summit

The 2014 Wales Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was the 25th summit of the heads of state and heads of government of the NATO countries, held in Newport, Wales on 4 and 5 September 2014. Such summits are sporadically held and allow leaders and officials from NATO Allies to discuss current issues of mutual concern and to plan strategic activities. The 2014 summit has been described by US Navy Admiral James G. Stavridis as the most important since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Background

The summit was hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron. Attendees included Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

There were another 180 VIPs, and 4,000 delegates and officials from approximately 60 countries.

The official logo for the summit included a panel with four quadrants, each bearing a stylised symbol of Newport or Wales: a Celtic knot, the Welsh Dragon, Newport Transporter Bridge and a Welsh castle. The entrance to the venue was fronted by a full-scale replica of a Eurofighter Typhoon.

Agenda

World leaders met at the Celtic Manor, and informally at other locales in and around Cardiff. They discussed ongoing events in the world, such as terrorism, cyberwarfare, and other areas of national security interest to the member states.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had a joint discussion with EU big four leaders and US President Barack Obama before the official start of the Summit, to discuss the crisis with Russia.

Outcomes

The following declarations and agreements were made at the Summit:
*Wales Summit Declaration
*Framework Nation Concept (FNC)
** FNC/UK - see Joint Expeditionary Force
** FNC/DE - German-led FNC on:
*** Deployable Headquarters
*** Joint Fires
*** Air and Missile Defence
*** Joint Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance
** FNC/IT - Italian-led FNC on stabilization operations
* NATO Readiness Action Plan
* NATO Security Capacity Building Initiative
* Armed Forces Declaration
*Joint Statement of the NATO-Ukraine Commission
*Declaration on Afghanistan
*The Wales Declaration on the Transatlantic Bond

Russia and Ukraine

Immediately prior to the summit on 3 September 2014 French President François Hollande announced the postponement of delivery of the first Mistral-class amphibious assault ship which had been sold to Russia, a ship provisionally named , due to the Russo-Ukrainian War.

At the end of the summit Ukrainian President Poroshenko announced the Minsk Protocol, a ceasefire which had been agreed with the separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko under terms proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The protocol was cautiously welcomed by NATO leaders.

On 12 September 2014 the EU announced a much wider expansion of its sanctions programme over the Russian involvement in the war in Ukraine.

On 12 September a communiqué of the US Treasury announced a sweeping ban on the Russian defense sector.

Wales Pledge

For the first time, the Allies formally pledged to aim to move towards what had previously been an informal guideline based on Article 3 of spending 2% of their gross domestic products on defense, and 20% of that on new equipment. For countries which spend less than 2% they agreed upon that these countries "aim to move towards the 2% guideline within a decade". This pledge was the brainchild of US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel

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