Walloon arms exporters booked record sales to Saudi Arabia in 2015

Arms sales to Saudi Arabia last year accounted for 60% of the total turnover for weapons sold in Wallonia in 2015, according to a report by the Walloon parliament on export licenses, writes Le Soir. Wallonia has never sold more weapons to Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital.

While Wallonia last year sold 1,369 weapons to 68 countries and only 34 of these went to Saudi Arabia, the contracts there represent a record total of €575.8 million, or 60% of Walloon turnover in the sector. The previous record dates from a year earlier, when the Belgian region sold €396.9 million worth of weapons to Riyadh.

Arms exports to Saudi Arabia, which is involved in the conflict in Yemen, in 2015 consisted of firearms (€396 million), guns or mortars (€7.6 million), ammunition (€105 million), vehicles (€5.18 million) and tanks, armoured vehicles and weapons parts (€58 million).