NATO Wales Summit 2014: outcomes

The 2014 NATO Wales Summit discussed Russia, Ukraine, Iraq, defence spending amongst allies and the end of combat operations in Afghanistan.

Allies adopted a Readiness Action Plan to strengthen NATO’s collective defence. Primarily geared towards the Eastern part of the Alliance, this includes plans to establish a Very High Readiness Joint Task Force that can deploy within a few days, and an enhanced military presence involving exercises and a continued military presence on a rotational basis.

Allies agreed to reverse the trend of declining defence budgets and aim towards the NATO guideline of spending 2% of GDP on defence expenditure within a decade.

NATO’s mission in Afghanistan will end in December 2014 and the Alliance called on Afghanistan to sign the relevant Security Agreements to enable NATO troops to remain in the country in 2015 onwards.