India world's biggest arms importer

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INDIA over the last five years was the world's biggest importer of weapons, said a report published today, which also showed big arms suppliers had scrambled during the period to sell to Libya. "India receives nine percent of the volume of international arms transfers during 2006-10, with Russian deliveries accounting for 82 percent of Indian arms imports," the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a statement upon releasing the report.


India's arms import delivery volumes jumped 21 percent from the prior five-year-period, with aircraft accounting for 71 percent of its imports.
China and South Korea held a joint second place, each accounting for six percent of global arms imports, followed by Pakistan, which saw the volume of imports soar 128 percent from the 2001-2005 period to account for five percent of worldwide arms imports, the institute said.
The United States remained the world's largest military equipment exporter, accounting for 30 percent of global arms exports in 2006-10, when 44 percent of the country's weapons sales went to Asia and Oceania, SIPRI said.
For the five-year period ending in 2010, "arms imports were particularly high in the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Egypt and Algeria," while "Saudi Arabian and Moroccan arms imports are expected to rise significantly in the coming years," it added.
There had also been a rush to sell arms to Libya, the institute said.


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