Serbia reaches $235 mln arms deal with Iraq
BELGRADE, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Serbia has reached a deal with Iraq to export weapons and military equipment worth 235 million U.S. dollars, Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac said Monday.
"We expect that the money will be deposited, and that we will show that despite challenges, the country is stable, and the Serbian military industry has the capacity to produce what has been agreed upon," Sutanovac told the official news agency Tanjug.
Serbia's government collapsed on March 13 due to infighting between the ruling coalition over Kosovo and EU integration. Early parliamentary elections have been called for May 11.
Sutanovac said an Iraqi Defense Ministry delegation had visited Serbia twice in recent months and that a deal was signed with the state military trade company Jugoimport SDPR.
He did not specify the weapons to be sold to Iraq, but Serbian military experts believe they include assault rifles, machine guns, anti-tank munitions and an array of explosives.
