Swiss surface-to-air missiles on a hill in canton Schwyz in 2013
Keystone
Switzerland delivered war materiel worth CHF446.6 million ($477 million) to 64 countries last year, an increase of 8% on 2016 – despite a 1% drop in commodity exports as a whole.
The export of war materiel made up 0.15% of total Swiss exports, according to figuresExternal link published on Tuesday by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
Almost half of all exports headed to Europe, although that proportion is dwindling. On the other hand, more are ending up in Asia, which currently buys around a quarter of all Swiss weapons. In addition, the share of exports to Africa dropped from 12.2% to 7.3%.
Here is a breakdown of the top five export destinations for Swiss weapons exports:
Kai Reusser / swissinfo.ch
Other notable sales include to India (CHF8.9 million), Pakistan (CHF6.6 million) and Saudi Arabia (CHF4.8 million). For the full list of 64 countries, go to the SECO reportExternal link.
Reacting to the figures, Amnesty International Switzerland called on the government to not ease arms exports controls, as currently demanded by the weapons industry.
“Given the arms exports to countries that are known for conflict and serious human rights violations, any further loosening would be cynical and irresponsible,” said Patrick Walder from Amnesty Switzerland in a statementExternal link.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Swiss state pension fund stops investing in arms firms
This content was published on
According to a report by Swiss public radio, SRF, Publica, the biggest pension fund in Switzerland, is dropping five arms manufacturers from its investment portfolio and selling its stake in them. Publica currently has 63,000 people paying in to the fund and 43,000 recipients, mainly government civil servants and employees at the federal institutes of…
This content was published on
The launching of the campaign kicked off with one of the group’s members, 86-year-old Louise Schneider, being picked up by police for spraying “Geld für Waffen tötet” (money for weapons kills) on the Swiss National Bank (SNB). The bank is currently undergoing renovations, so the graffiti was sprayed on a wooden protective wall. The text…
This content was published on
Switzerland’s exports of war materiel are on the decline, yet there are some interesting developments in their distribution.
This content was published on
Between January and September, the Swiss sold war materiel to Pakistan to the value of just over CHF25 million ($25.8 million) compared with CHF552,816 in the same period last year. The increase is due to the sale of an air defence system, authorised last year. Following an easing of arms exports by parliament in 2014,…
This content was published on
Switzerland notched CHF224 million ($228 million) in sales of “war materiel” during the January-June period, up from nearly CHF217 million during the same timeframe a year ago, according to figures published online by the State Secretariat for Economic AffairsExternal link (SECO) on Thursday. That represents a modest rebound from the full-year results for 2015, when…
This content was published on
The moratorium has held up more than 50 multi-million franc deals with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Swiss weapons manufacturers had voiced their concerns at the ban, with the state-controlled Ruag saying it had cost the company tens of millions of francs and potential job losses. Last summer, lobby groups for the…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.