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, cyber warfare, 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
Joint Expeditionary Force agreement
Armed Forces Declaration
Joint Statement of the NATO-Ukraine Commission
Declaration on Afghanistan
The Wales Declaration on the Transatlantic Bond
At the end of the summit Ukrainian President Poroshenko announced a ceasefire which had been agreed with one of the leading pro-Russia separatist leaders, under terms proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which was cautiously welcomed by NATO leaders. ;Wales Pledge For the first time, the Allies formally pledged to aim to move towards what had previously been an informal guideline 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". In 2015, five of its 28 members met that goal. At the beginning of 2018, eight of the 29 members either were meeting the target or were close to it; six others had laid out plans to reach the target by 2024 as promised; and Norway and Denmark had unveiled plans to substantially boost defense spending. Further outcomes were the development of the Readiness Action Plan and the Defence and Related Security Capacity Building Initiative.
Criticism
Protests, demonstrations and marches took place in Newport and Cardiff involving several hundred people, though the turnout was much lower than predicted. A retired German politician,, former defence secretary of state and former head of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, criticised the summit agenda for its focus on military details and not political perspectives. Stützle said that the Russian Federation was not a military threat to NATO but criticised that new NATO members' policies were not détente and negotiation with the Russian Federation.
Security
In both Newport and Cardiff, road closures and security measures, starting weeks in advance of the summit, created widespread disruption. of security fencing, high, was erected around the Newport hotel venue and of fencing put up around Cardiff city centre. Businesses in the vicinity of security fencing in Cardiff reported a drop in trade by up to a third. This fencing was based on, and expanded, the 'National Barrier Asset' which is held in reserve for similar events. Security included around 9,500 specially trained police officers patrolling the streets of the two cities, military helicopters including US Osprey V22s and the Royal Navy's new £1bn Type 45 destroyer.
