Hyderabad: The United States emerged as one of the largest arms exporter during the 2015-19 period and not surprisingly Saudi Arabia being the world's largest importer, a clear reference to the defence ties the middle-eastern nation has with the US.
According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the flow of arms to the conflict zones in the Middle East has increased, which becomes a major concern as the Arab counties have become fertile grounds for militancy and proxy wars.
Between 2010–14 and 2015–19, exports of major arms from the USA grew by 23 per cent, raising its share of total global arms exports to 36 per cent. In 2015–19 total US arms exports were 76 per cent higher than those of the second-largest arms exporter in the world, Russia.
Ironically, both US and Russia are major players in the ongoing civil war in Syria, with Russia backing the President Bashar Assad-led government and US supports Kurdish forces in its fight against ISIL.
"Half of US arms exports in the past five years went to the Middle East, and half of those went to Saudi Arabia," says Pieter D. Wezeman, senior researcher at SIPRI.
Besides, India emerged as the second-largest arms importer in the world with Pakistan ranking 11th.
"Many of the world’s largest arms exporters have supplied these two states for decades, often exporting arms to both sides," SIPRI observed.
“While both countries have long-standing aims to produce their own major arms, they remain largely dependent on imports and have substantial outstanding orders and plans for imports of all types of major arms," the report said.
