German Foreign Minister vows to tighten arms sales rules
Dec 26, 2021
Berlin [Germany], December 26 (ANI/Sputnik): German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday that a new law is in the works to revise the country's military export regulations after Angela Merkel's government was exposed to have approved a record volume of foreign arms sales this year.
On Saturday, German news agency DPA reported, citing Economy Ministry data requested by a lawmaker, that the Merkel government approved over 9 billion euros ($10 billion) worth of weapon contracts in 2021. Over half of the contracts were approved during Merkel's last days as chancellor and went to Egypt.
"We as a [new government] coalition have clearly stated that we would reassess the policy of defence exports of recent years. That is why we are working on a defence exports law that will provide clearer criteria for the approval of defence export," Baerbock told DPA.
Germany has been among the world's biggest arms sellers together with the United States, Russia, France and Germany. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Berlin was responsible for 5.5% of global arms exports from 2016 to 2020, with South Korea, Algeria and Egypt as its biggest buyers. (ANI/Sputnik)
