From: Tsegai Emmanuel (emmanuelt40@gmail.com)
Date: Mon Sep 07 2009 - 17:21:43 EDT
US Expands Sales of Arms: Report
WASHINGTON - The United States expanded its role as the worlds leading
weapons supplier, increasing its share to more than two-thirds of all
foreign armaments deals, The New York Times
*reported*<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/world/07weapons.html?_r=1&ref=us>
[1].
Citing a new congressional study, the newspaper said the United States
signed weapons agreements valued at 37.8 billion dollars last year, or 68.4
percent of all business in the global arms bazaar.
[image: [File photo shows Iraqi soldiers holding new rifles distributed by
US forces. The United States expanded its role as the worlds leading weapons
supplier, increasing its share to more than two-thirds of all foreign
armaments deals, The New York Times reported.]]File photo shows Iraqi
soldiers holding new rifles distributed by US forces. The United States
expanded its role as the worlds leading weapons supplier, increasing its
share to more than two-thirds of all foreign armaments deals, The New York
Times reported.
The figure marked a significant increase from US arms sales of 25.4 billion
dollars the year before, the paper noted.
Italy was a distant second, with 3.7 billion dollars in worldwide weapons
sales in 2008, while Russia was third with 3.5 billion dollars in arms sales
last year -- down considerably from the 10.8 billion in weapons deals signed
by Moscow in 2007, the report pointed out.
The growth in weapons sales by the United States last year was particularly
noticeable against worldwide trends, The Times said.
The value of global arms sales in 2008 was 55.2 billion dollars, a drop of
7.6 percent from 2007 and the lowest total for international weapons
agreements since 2005, according to the report.
The increase in American weapons sales around the world "was attributable
not only to major new orders from clients in the Near East and in Asia, but
also to the continuation of significant equipment and support services
contracts with a broad-based number of US clients globally," the paper
quotes the study produced by the Congressional Research Service.
© 2009 Agence France-Press
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----