MOSCOW, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Russia sold over 15 billion U.S. dollars worth of arms to more than 60 countries in 2014, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
"Last year, Russian arms and military equipment were in demand in over 60 countries. The total volume of sales exceeded 15 billion U.S. dollars. New contracts worth 14 billion U.S. dollars were also added to the already significant portfolio of Russian arms manufactures," Putin told a meeting of the Commission for Military Technology Cooperation with Foreign States.
The president said new challenges and threats forced many countries to revise their military doctrines and modernize their armed forces, adding that "we have to consider these tendencies."
He vowed to continue the expansion of Russian presence on the markets of arms in the Asia-Pacific region, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Given the complicated geopolitical situation, Putin stressed that the export of high technology military products was of great significance to Russia.
"This is important for the renewal of defense industry, for enhancing research, testing and design work and for the resolution of a number of social matters," he said.
Putin called on domestic manufacturers to make maximum use of Russia's competitive edge to compete with other world defense providers.
Russia is one of the leading exporters in global market of arms and military technology. Russian-made weapons are supplied to 66 countries, and Moscow has military-technical cooperation agreements with 85 countries.
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