"(Saudi Arabia) is the top terror exporter in the Middle East," Vice President of the German Parliament (Bundestag) Claudia Roth said in an interview with Welt am Sonntag.
Germany’s guidelines on weapons exports make it "crystal clear that deliveries cannot be made to such countries," she noted.
"Besides the weapons deals, Germany is also discussing other trade ties with Saudi Arabia," Roth said, adding that "a large portion" of the Takfiri militants in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq hail from Saudi Arabia.
"Pressure could certainly be brought to bear using these," Roth added.
Claudia Roth made the remarks ahead of German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel’s arrival for talks with the Saudi monarchy.
Gabriel is starting his tour of the region in Riyadh on Saturday, arriving after a week of revelations over the scope of German arms exports to the region.
According to a new report, Saudi Arabia has surpassed India to become in 2014 the largest importer of military equipment in a market whose volume has reached a record high.
In 2014, arms sales increased for the sixth consecutive year, reaching $ 64.4 billion, against $ 56 billion in 2013, an increase of 13.4 percent, says the document prepared by the consulting firm IHS Janes, based in London.
This record figure was fueled by unprecedented demand from emerging economies for military aircraft and rising regional tensions in the Middle East and in Asia Pacific says Ben Moores of IHS Janes.
The report, which covers some 65 countries, indicates that Riyadh is now the largest buyer of weapons in the world, with imports reaching $ 6.4 billion.
Saudi Arabia, the second in 2013, had dethroned India which imported $5.5 billion of military equipment last year, still an impressive number.
Saudi imports increased by 54 percent, and is bound to increase by 52 percent in 2015 to $9.8 billion, the report says.
In 2015, one out of 7 dollars spent on arms purchases is or will be spent by Saudi Arabia, insists IHS Janes, stressing that the Middle East is the largest regional market for arms sales, with some $110 billion of potential imports in the coming decade.
On their own, Saudi Arabia and the UAE imported $8.6 billion of military equipment in 2014, more than any Western European country.
On the export side, the report notes that with sales reaching $ 23.7 billion, the United States provide a third of all exports of weapons and has been the main beneficiary of the market growth.
