France world’s fourth largest arms exporter

Paris: France remained as the fourth largest exporter of defence equipment in 2010, with orders totalling 5.12 billion euros (about $7.12 billion), while the US is still the world’s largest arms exporter, Xinhua reported.

The figure, however, was some 37 percent down from 8.16 billion euros in 2009, due to the economic downturn last year, the defence ministry said in a statement Wednesday. (IANS)