Serbia signs 100-million-dollar arms deal with Iraq
Belgrade - Serbia has signed a 100-million-dollar arms contract with Iraq, Belgrade newspapers said Friday, describing the contract as the country's largest export deal of the year. "The contract will employ all six Serbian military industry factories ... and rehauling facilities, some 6,000 people," the Blic newspaper quoted a statement by Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac sas saying.
No details of the contract, which Blic and radio B92 said was signed Thursday, were revealed. Sutanovac visited Baghdad in early August to sign a defence cooperation agreement.
The Serbian defence industry had been a major exporter before the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, with foreign sales reaching the value of 2 billion dollars annually.
Still recovering from international sanctions slapped on Belgrade for its role in the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, the Serbian weapons industry generated 4.5 per cent of the country's total exports worth around 10.5 billion dollars in 2008, according to official data.
Serbia signs 100-million-dollar arms deal with Iraq : Business
