"The world is spending 175 trillion dollars on arms and ammunition. Poor countries of the world do not need to spend that much. India is one of the biggest importers of arms. There is need to cut the military spending by all the countries," he said.
"However, neither exporters nor importers of arms want to ratify the Arms Trade Treaty that seeks to regulate the international trade in arms," he said during a meeting with Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan at Raj Bhavan here.
Sanchez told the Governor that he had introduced the Arms Trade Treaty in the United Nations in 2009.
He rued that only 11 governments out of 80 had ratified the Treaty, and added that it would come into force only if it was ratified by 50 states, a Raj Bhavan spokesperson said.
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Welcoming the Nobel laureate to Maharashtra, Sankaranarayanan explained to him the challenges before India. He also dwelt on the election process in the country.
Sanchez's spouse Suzanne Fischel was also present on the occasion.
He was the President of Costa Rica between 1986 and 1990 and again from 2006 to 2010.