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.

They discussed ongoing events in the world, such as terrorism, cyberwarfare, and other areas of national security interest to the member states.

[29] 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.

[36] On the initiative of the UK, the multinational Joint Expeditionary Force was officially launched with a Letter of Intent at and peripheral to the Summit.

[38][39] Germany, the UK and Italy were to act as framework nations for groups of Allies coming together to work multi-nationally for the joint development of forces and capabilities required by NATO.

[40][10] A retired German politician, Walther Stützle [de], former defense Parliamentary Secretary of State (until 2002) in the SPD's First Schröder cabinet and former head of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (until 1991), criticized the summit agenda for its focus on military details and not political perspectives.

[41] In both Newport and Cardiff, road closures and security measures, starting weeks in advance of the summit, created widespread disruption.