U.S. first exporter of weapons

WASHINGTON - The United States in 2008. year was the first exporter of weapons in the world, because they concluded contracts for the sale of arms worth 37.8 billion dollars, writes the American daily New York Times.
The paper writes, referring to a recent report for the research service of the U.S. Congress that the American contracts make up 68.4 percent of the world market of weapons.
This represents a significant increase compared to 2007. year when the U.S. sold weapons worth 25.4 billion dollars, announced on Sunday the U.S. daily.
According to the survey, Italy is in second place by selling weapons in the world in 2008. year contract with the hardworking 3.7 billion dollars, followed by Russia, whose contracts were worth 3.5 billion dollars. Russia 2007th The signed contracts worth 10.8 billion dollars.
New York Times writes that the increase in exports of U.S. weapons particularly important in circumstances falling sales of weapons in the world last year.
In the world of the 2008th The contracts of sale of weapons totals 55.2 billion dollars, which represents a decrease of 7.6 percent compared to 2007. and the lowest amount since 2005. year, the report said.
Number of contracts that are entered into the U.S. in the world increased not only due to new orders from the Middle East and Asia but also because of the implementation of important agreements on the servicing and maintenance of equipment with a large number of American customers in the world, "the report said Congressional Research Service.