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AFP : Western arms makers eye lucrative Mideast market
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gYuIbPZ40JULzDaBUMv4VHZjhmFg?docId=CNG.a0d7b7b8196bf0fd9798e07825395bd

Une grande foire de vente d’#armes se tenait dans le Golfe en plein pendant la brutalissime répression des manifestants en #Libye et ailleurs.

The six Gulf Cooperation Council countries — #Saudi_Arabia, #Bahrain, #UAE, #Oman, #Qatar, #Kuwait — along with Jordan are set to spend $68 billion (49.6 billion euros) on defence in 2011, according to research firm Frost & Sullivan. Their spending is expected to reach nearly $80 billion in 2015.

“Undeniably, in the Gulf there are very big budgets that we don’t have in #Europe,” said Christian Mons, president of French Land Defence Manufacturers Association (GICAT).

The dynamic market is a godsend for Western contractors as defence budgets at home are being curbed, particularly in the United States and in Western Europe. But they are faced with increasing competition from emerging economies. The #Chinese, #Ukrainian and #South_African stalls at the event expanded the most this year.