CANBERRA, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Australia needs to "reverse the current situation" and become one of the world's premier arms exporters, according to the nation's Defense Industry Minister Christopher Pyne.
Speaking with local media on Sunday, the minister said that Australia must become self-sufficient in the way that it builds its defence capabilities, adding that creating an arms export industry would deliver self-sufficiency and build strategic relationships with ally nations in the Middle East.
Pyne said he would like to see Australia "design, build and export ships, vehicles, (and) missiles" with the 200 billion Australian dollars (152 billion U.S. dollars) the government has set aside for defence over the next decade.
"My ambition and the government's ambition is to reverse the current situation," Pyne told Fairfax Media, "There's absolutely no reason why we can't be as capable as Italy, Germany, France, Great Britain."
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