Conflicts in the Middle East have increased the export of Bulgarian weapons by almost 60% in 2016, reaching record levels not seen since the end of Communism.

According to official data, our country has exported goods worth more than € 1 billion in 2016, compared with € 642 million in 2015 and € 402 million in 2014.

Major buyers of Bulgarian weapons are Iraq and Saudi Arabia, followed by the United States, Afghanistan, Croatia, Azerbaijan, India, Egypt and Russia, the annual report of the Arms Exports Control Commission shows.

Experts say a large proportion of the weapons which are for export from Bulgaria and other countries in the region are in the hands of fighters fighting the conflicts in Syria and Yemen after being re-exported from Saudi Arabia and the United States to rebel groups , According to the French press agency, quoted by BGNES.

A study of a British organization in 2014 shows that a quarter of the munitions used by the Islamic State group in northern Iraq and Syria have been produced in Bulgaria.

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