BRUSSELS - Ministers from the European Union (EU) countries on Tuesday approved the creation of a 150-billion-euro (about $170.22 billion) arms fund, the bloc's first large-scale defence investment program at EU level, the Council of the EU said in a press release.

The fund will be channelled through the new Security Action for Europe instrument, which offers competitively priced, long-maturity loans to member states that choose to invest in defence industrial production via joint procurement of priority capabilities, the Council said.

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The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, proposed the fund in March as an essential part of its ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030 package, which aims to leverage over 800 billion euros in defence spending to bolster European security and defence cooperation.