11 minutes agoConsider how European countries are arming themselves after Russian aggression
Periskopi(4 years ago)
(4 years ago)Europe has seen the largest increase in arms imports in five years and the trend will be significantly accelerated given information on rearmament due to a new Russian threat, according to a report published Monday, the AFP reports. In 2017-2021, the world's arms trade fell by 4.6 percent [...]
In 2017-2021, world arms trade fell 4.6 percent from the previous five years, but increased 19 percent on the European continent, according to a report by the International Institute for Peace Research (SIPRI) in Stockholm, Sweden, AFP reported.
“Europe is again a hot spot,” said Simon Wezeman, coauthor of the annual report, which has been published for more than 30 years.
“We need a lot of new weapons and a lot of it will come from imports,” said the researcher for AFP, mostly inter-European and American.
The Armatta of Europe
Germany has already warned plans for major investments in the field of defence.
Due to increased tensions with Russia after 2014, Europe's share in global trade has increased from 10 per cent to 13 per cent in the last five years, and this section will increase <x0-29/x1>, Wezeman said.
While it is difficult to determine precise figures because of the intransparability of many agreements, the value of global arms trade increases to $100 billion annually, experts think.
According to SIPRI, Asia and Oceania remain the main import area for the past five years, with 43 percent of the world's arms trade and six major importers (India, Australia, China, South Korea, Pakistan and Japan).
The arms trade in the densest part of the world, however, has declined by 5 percent in the last five years.
USA, biggest arms exporter
Middle East, the second largest market in the world with 32 percent of world trade, saw a weaker growth (+3 percent) and was based mainly on Qatar's investments because of tensions with neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf.
The American and Africa section dropped significantly by about 6 percent on each continent.
Among the world's five biggest arms exporters, the United States, so far the largest exporter ʹ and France, in third place, have seen strong growth in the past five years, from 32 to 39 percent and 6 to 11 percent, respectively.
Russia held second place among exporters, but its share fell 19 per cent during the review period and such a decline could continue due to the impact of sanctions and Moscow's growing isolation, the SIPRI concludes.
