Among the 10 largest arms importers in the world, Saudi Arabia ranks first, Egypt ranks third, Algeria ranks sixth, Qatar ranks eighth and the UAE ranks ninth.
The annual report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute shows that 5 Arab countries were among the 10 largest importers of weapons in the world between 2016 and 2020.
According to the report, among the 10 countries with the largest arms importers in the world, Saudi Arabia ranks first, Egypt ranks third, Algeria ranks sixth, Qatar ranks eighth and the UAE ranks ninth.
Saudi Arabia has increased its arms imports by 61 percent over the past five years and has sold 11 percent of the world’s arms to Saudi Arabia. 79 percent of its weapons come from the United States and 93 percent from the United Kingdom Bought 4% from France.
Egypt also increased its arms purchases during this period compared to 5 years ago, accounting for 5.8% of the world’s total arms purchases. Egypt bought 41 percent of its weapons from Russia, 28 percent from France, and 8.7 percent from the United States.
As far as Algeria is concerned, the country’s arms purchases accounted for 4.3 percent of world arms imports, an increase of 64 percent compared to the five-year period 2015-2011. Algeria also bought most of its weapons from Russia (69%), followed by Germany (12%) and China (9.9%).
But Qatar has increased its arms imports over the past five years, accounting for 3.8 percent of the world’s arms purchases. The United States is the largest arms seller to Qatar (47%), followed by France (31%) and Germany (7.5%).
In contrast, the United Arab Emirates, which ranks 10th in the world, has reduced its arms purchases by 37% compared to the five years 2011-2011 and accounts for 3% of global arms transactions. The top three arms suppliers for the UAE are the United States (64%), France (10%), and Russia (4.7%).
In this ranking, Iraq is ranked 11th in the world, and the volume of assets allocated for the purchase of weapons has decreased by 0.6 percent compared to the five years 2011-2016. Iraq bought 41 percent of its weapons from the United States, 34 percent from Russia, and 12 percent from South Korea.
The report shows that the Middle East is the second largest region in the world after Asia-Pacific in terms of the rate of increase in arms imports, and in these five years, compared to the previous five years, they have increased their arms purchases by 25%.
