France sets up special arms sales task force |
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Wed, 24 Oct 2007 16:55
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MARRAKECH, Morocco (Thomson Financial) - France has set up a special arms sales task force to react rapidly to any opportunity to sell the country's weapons, a presidential envoy said.'We have to take political and military decisions very quickly and deals need to be made as a matter of urgency,' said a senior Elysees official.France is the world's second largest arms exporter at 7.9 bln usd, second only to the US at 12.9 bln usd. Russia comes third with sales of 5.6 bln usd.Sarkozy set up what has become known as the 'war room' a few months ago to swiftly put together attractive arms sales packages.It comprises the president, his prime minister and the ministers of defence, finance and foreign affairs, together with the commander in chief of the army and a senior Elysee official.Sarkozy had understood the need to copy the American approach of putting together rapid arms deals tailor-made to each situation and to use arms sales as a means of entering markets, said the official.tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.comafp/raCOPYRIGHTCopyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
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