Finland sells military technology to conflict areas, despite government pledges to help prevent conflicts and support peacemaking. A report by the national non-governmental organisation Committee of 100 in Finland, 6.2 percent of Finland’s weapons technology exports are going to the Middle East.
The Committee’s report says that Finland has signed weapons industry contracts with Israel worth millions of euros. Weapons technology is also being sold to Columbia, which has long fought an internal war against separatists, and Ethiopia, which is still at war with neighbouring Eritrea.
The report also says that weapons technology ended up in China, which is under a weapons sale ban.
On a global scale, Finland is a minor player in the weapons industry. In monetary terms, armoured vehicles and their parts are Finland’s most important export products. Other key military export products include ammunition and biological warfare protection gear.
90% of Sales to the West
Some 90 percent of Finland’s arms sales are to other western states. Egypt is Finland’s key non-western arms trading partner.
Arms sales are a multi-billion euro business. Between 1998 and 2007, Finland’s weapons sales totalled 375 billion euros. In the past decade the sale of Finnish military equipment grew by 40 percent, according to the report
Eighty-three percent of Finland’s exported arms go to other EU states. Sweden and Poland are Finland’s most important arms trade partners with the EU, accounting for 60 percent of Finnish arms exports. Other important partners include Egypt, the United States, Norway and several Middle Eastern states.
The Committee of 100 in Finland’s study is based on information drawn from archives of the Interior and Defence ministries and from customs databases.
