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U.S. leads arms sales to developing countries
By Thom Shanker
Sunday, September 30, 2007
U.S. leads arms sales to developing countries - International Herald Tribune
By Thom Shanker
Sunday, September 30, 2007
U.S. leads arms sales to developing countries - International Herald Tribune
WASHINGTON: The United States maintained its role as the leading supplier of weapons to the developing world in 2006, followed by Russia and Britain, according to a Congressional study. Pakistan, India and Saudi Arabia were the top buyers.
The global weapons market is highly competitive, with manufacturing countries seeking both to increase profits and to expand political influence through weapons sales to developing nations that reached nearly $28.8 billion in 2006.
That sales total was a slight drop from the 2005 figure of $31.8 billion, a trend explained by the strain of rising fuel prices that prompted many developing states - except those that produce oil - to choose upgrading current arsenals over purchasing new weapons.
The report, "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations," was produced by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, an office of the Library of Congress, and presents a number of interesting observations linking arms sales and global politics.
For example, Russia has been a major supplier of weapons to Iran in past years - including a $700 million deal for surface-to air-missiles in 2005.
But anxieties over Iran's nuclear program can be seen as having deterred Moscow from concluding significant new conventional arms deals with Tehran in 2006 that could be viewed as overly provocative as the Security Council debates new sanctions on Iran.
At the same time, though, Russia continues to nurture an arms-trade relationship that is deeply disturbing to the Bush administration, by signing weapons deals with Venezuela and its anti-American leader, Hugo Chávez.
The Russian agreements with Venezuela in 2006 included the sale of two-dozen Su-30 fighter aircraft valued at more than $1 billion, along with attack and transport helicopters valued at more than $700 million.
Russia also sold Venezuela a large number of AK-series assault rifles in a deal that included a pledge to build a factory in Venezuela to produce those rifles and bullets, together valued at more than $500 million.
"Venezuela's populist president, Hugo Chávez, has taken a hostile approach to relations with the United States in recent years," wrote Richard Grimmett, a specialist in national defense at the Congressional Research Service.
"Thus his decision to seek advanced military equipment from Russia is a matter of U.S. concern," Grimmett said in the report. "Chavez appears embarked on an effort to make Venezuela an important military force in Latin America."
In 2006, the United States agreed to sell $10.3 billion in weapons to the developing world, or 35.8 percent of these deals worldwide, according to the study. Russia was second with $8.1 billion, or 28.1 percent, and Britain was third with $3.1 billion, or 10.8 percent.
Pakistan concluded $5.1 billion in agreements to purchase arms in 2006. That total was followed by India with $3.5 billion in agreements and Saudi Arabia with $3.2 billion in deals.
The combined value of arms sales worldwide to both developed and developing nations in 2006 reached $40.3 billion, a decline of nearly 13 percent from 2005.
Grimmett's study uses figures in 2006 dollars, with amounts for previous years adjusted to account for inflation, to give a constant financial measurement.
