The ‘most successful alliance in history’ turns 75, announces 'bridge to membership' for Ukraine and locks horns with China in the Indo-Pacific

Analysis of the NATO Washington Summit, 9-11 July 2024

The NATO Washington Summit took place on the 9-11 July 2024. It was the fifth NATO summit since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with the first held virtually on 25 February 2022, just one day after the attack, followed by meetings in Brussels, Madrid and Vilnius. Concerns about host US President Joe Biden’s age, health and ability to win the 2024 presidential election formed an unwelcome elephant in the room at the summit. Indeed, the growing power of far-right forces unfriendly to NATO, not only in the United States but in other member states including France, was likely a dominant topic behind the scenes.

It was the first summit Sweden attended as a full member of the alliance and the last summit for Jens Stoltenberg as NATO Secretary General (the NATO leaders agreed a year ago to extend his mandate until 1 October 2024). Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whom Stoltenberg says is an “excellent person to take on the task,” will take over. The key decisions taken were as follows:

Key decisions:

• The summit adopted an official text: the 38-paragraph Washington Summit Communique.
• A plan was approved for NATO to lead the coordination of security assistance and training to Ukraine, with a command led by a three-star general, and around 700 personnel working at a NATO headquarters in Germany, and at hubs in the eastern part of the alliance. In addition to coordinating the training of Ukrainian forces, this command will plan and coordinate donations and manage the transfer and repair of equipment. This will give Europe greater responsibility for aiding Ukraine amid uncertainty over the upcoming US presidential election.
• A financial pledge to Ukraine was agreed, with 40 billion euros as a minimum baseline within the next year, to be reviewed at the 2025 summit. 
• Further steps were taken to bring Ukraine “even closer to NATO” on its “irreversible path to NATO membership”. These included NATO support and advice on the design and implementation of an integrated air and missile defence architecture for Ukraine, the establishment of a NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis, Training, and Education Centre in Poland and the appointment of a senior civilian representative in Kyiv to act as a focal point for NATO’s engagement with senior Ukrainian officials. 
• Ukrainian President Zelenskyy joined the summit for a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, which published a statement setting out what had been agreed. 
• The NATO Secretary General claimed that China is a “decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine” and the summit declaration referred to the strategic partnership between Moscow and Beijing as a “cause for profound concern”.
• A new US ballistic missile defence site in Redzikowo, Poland is now operational.
• A new NATO Industrial Capacity Expansion pledge was agreed to scale up military production and solidify long-term cooperation with industry. 
• Defence Ministers from 24 NATO member states signed a series of multinational initiatives at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum, including: the Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space (APSS) programme (“the largest multinational investment in space-based capabilities in NATO’s history”); the Allied software for Cloud and Edge (ACE) services to ensure unified communications and data sharing across land, air, maritime, space and cyberspace domains; and a Nordic Declaration of Cooperation on Cross-Border Airspace.
• A new NATO Integrated Cyber Defence Centre will be established at NATO’s strategic military headquarters at SHAPE in Belgium.
• NATO released a summary of its revised artificial intelligence (AI) strategy, which aims to accelerate the use of AI technologies within NATO. The full strategy document remains classified.
• NATO’s Updated Policy Guidelines on Counter-Terrorism and Updated Action Plan on Enhancing NATO’s Role in the International Community’s Fight Against Terrorism were endorsed but remain classified.
• A commitment was made to deepen cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea that participated in a NATO Summit for the third time. Four new Flagship Projects were launched focusing on support for Ukraine; enhancing cooperation on cyber defence; exchanging information on the challenges posed by disinformation; and engaging on Artificial Intelligence through an expert group.
• A NATO action plan towards its southern neighbourhood was adopted. The plan was not made public. 
• As part of NATO’s commitment to reinforcing engagement and cooperation with its partners in the Middle East and North Africa, a liaison office will be established in Amman, Jordan – its first ever in the region.
• The NATO Mission Iraq (NMI) has broadened the scope of its support to the Iraqi Security Institutions, but no further details were forthcoming.
• A new NATO Policy on Women, Peace and Security was endorsed and published at the summit.
• The next NATO Summit will be held in The Hague, Netherlands in 2025.

For further details, see the attached PDF.