Europe new hot spot for imports of weapons

STOCKHOLM • Europe saw the world's biggest rise in arms imports in the past five years, a trend set to accelerate following recent re-armament commitments amid the threat posed by Russia, researchers said yesterday.

While arms exports declined globally by 4.6 per cent in 2017-2021 compared to the preceding five years, Europe posted a 19 per cent increase, according to a study published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).

"Europe is the new hot spot," said Mr Siemon Wezeman, co-author of the annual report for over three decades.

"We are going to increase our military spending not just by a little bit but by a lot. We need new weapons and a lot of that will come from imports," said the senior researcher, adding that the majority was likely to come from other European countries and the United States.

Germany, in particular, has already announced plans to up its military spending, as have Denmark and Sweden.

European countries spooked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine are expected to beef up their armed forces with fighter jets, such as the American F-35, missiles, artillery and other heavy weapons.

"Most of these things take a bit of time. You have to go through the process, you have to decide, you have to order, you have to produce. This generally takes a couple of years at least," Mr Wezeman said.

He said the upward trend started after Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, with the effects visible now. Europe's share of the global arms trade has already risen from 10 per cent to 13 per cent in the past five years and this share will increase substantially, he added.

Although the opaque nature of many contracts and donations of weapons without payment make it difficult to provide an exact figure for the world arms trade, experts have estimated the turnover at close to US$100 billion (S$136 billion) annually.

According to Sipri, Asia and Oceania remained the main importing region over the past five years, home to 43 per cent of arms transfers and six of the world's largest importers: India, Australia, China, South Korea, Pakistan and Japan.

While arms imports to the world's most populous region declined by around 5 per cent over the past five years, East Asia and Oceania specifically saw strong growth, with 20 per cent and 59 per cent, respectively.

"Tensions between China and many states in Asia and Oceania are the main driver of arms imports in the region," the report's authors said in a statement.

In the Middle East, the second-largest market and accounting for 32 per cent of global arms imports, the increase was 3 per cent, driven mainly by investments in Qatar amid tensions with its Gulf neighbours, the report said.

"The current (high) oil prices mean they're going to have a lot of income and that usually translates into large orders for arms," said Mr Wezeman.

The Americas and Africa, meanwhile, have seen their imports decline sharply, by 36 per cent and 34 per cent respectively, accounting for about 6 per cent of global arms imports each.

In terms of individual countries, India and Saudi Arabia share the top spot as the largest importers, each accounting for 11 per cent, ahead of Egypt (5.7 per cent), Australia (5.4 per cent) and China (4.8 per cent).

When it comes to exporting countries, the US leads the pack with 39 per cent. Russia remains in second place, though its share has fallen to 19 per cent over the past five years, largely due to declining imports by China which is now almost completely independent of Russian arms.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE