Middle East embargo hinders Swiss arms exporters

The Swiss armaments industry says it is taking a hard hit financially due to a ban on sales to Middle East and Gulf states. Swiss export restrictions prevent weapons being used to violate human rights. The recent military action by Saudi Arabia against Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen led the Swiss government in March to impose restrictions on exports to the lucrative Middle East region. The state-owned armaments company Ruag, already under pressure from the strong franc, has sounded the alert. “Ruag has not received export permits to the Middle East since March 2015. Export applications are pending for most of the countries affected by the moratorium,” the company said in a statement emailed to swissinfo.ch. “This has affected Ruag financially to the tune of several tens of millions of Swiss francs.” “There is a danger that Ruag will lose its business to other competitors in the long term. Furthermore, its security-relevant industrial base in Switzerland will ...