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PAKISTAN Ranks Amongst Top 10 Countries To Import Arms During 2016-20:
ort released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said that PAKISTAN is among the top 10 Countries that that import weapons during 2016-20. The report said that Asia and Oceania remains the largest importer of sophisticated weapons, receiving 42% of Global arms transfers during 2016-2020.
PAKISTAN remains on the 10th spot that import the largest quantity of weapons during the said period. The report that weapons export of Germany, France and the United States witnessed a sharp growth during the period of 2016-2020, ending more than a decade of increases.
According to SIPRI, it is the very first time since 2005-05 that volume of weapon deliveries between countries did not increase from the previous 5-year period.
It was the first time since 2001–2005 that the volume of deliveries of major arms between countries – an indicator of demand – did not increase from the previous five-year period, SIPRI said.
The Senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme, Pieter Wezeman said “The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could see some countries reassessing their arms imports in the coming years.”
SIPRI added that the slow economic activities of countries due to Covid-19 pandemic may be the main reason that the arms export didn’t increase from the past 5 years. SIPRI added that it was too early to predict that the same pattern will likely to continue in future as well.
“For example, the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic could see some countries reassessing their arms imports in the coming years. However, at the same time, even at the height of the pandemic in 2020, several countries signed large contracts for major arms,” report said.
The report said the overall weapons export to Middle Eastern Countries grew up to 25% in 2016-20 for the initial period of 2011-15. Among the Middle Eastern Countries, Saudi Arabia increases its arms imports by 61% and Qatar by 361%.
Moreover, the overall arms export by the UK dropped significantly by 27% between the year of 2011-15 and 2016-20. The United Kingdom accounted for 3.3% of total arms export during the year of 2016-20.