- commodities:
livestock, sorghum, textiles, food, small manufactures (2000)
Exports - partners:
Malaysia 26.6%, Italy 17.1%, Japan 8%, Germany 6.6%, China 5%, UK
4.9%, US 4.7%, France 4.4%, Poland 4.2% (2004)
Imports:
$622 million f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Imports - commodities:
machinery, petroleum products, food, manufactured goods (2000)
Imports - partners:
Ireland 26.6%, US 18.6%, Italy 16.6%, Turkey 6.4% (2004)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$30.87 million (2004 est.)
Debt - external:
$311 million (2000 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$77 million (1999)
Currency (code):
nakfa (ERN)
Currency code:
ERN
Exchange rates:
nakfa (ERN) per US dollar - 13.788 (2004), 13.878 (2003), 13.958
(2002), 11.31 (2001), 9.625 (2000)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
Communications Eritrea
Telephones - main lines in use:
38,100 (2003)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
NA
Telephone system:
general assessment: inadequate
domestic: very inadequate; most telephones are in Asmara; government
is seeking international tenders to improve the system (2002)
international: country code - 291; note - international connections
exist
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 2, FM NA, shortwave 2 (2000)
Radios:
345,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
1 (2000)
Televisions:
1,000 (1997)
Internet country code:
.er
Internet hosts:
1,047 (2004)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
5 (2001)
Internet users:
9,500 (2003)
Transportation Eritrea
Railways: total: 306 km narrow gauge: 306 km 0.950-m gauge (2004)
Highways: total: 4,010 km paved: 874 km unpaved: 3,136 km (1999 est.)
Ports and harbors:
Assab, Massawa
Merchant marine:
total: 6 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 16,069 GRT/19,549 DWT
by type: cargo 3, liquefied gas 1, petroleum tanker 1, roll on/roll
off 1
registered in other countries: 1 (2005)
Airports:
17 (2004 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 4 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 (2004 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 13 over 3,047 m: 1 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 2 (2004 est.)
Military Eritrea
Military branches:
Army, Navy, Air Force
Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for voluntary and compulsory military service; conscript service obligation - 16 months (2004)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18–49: NA (2005)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$151 million (2004)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
13.4% (2004)
Transnational Issues Eritrea
Disputes - international:
Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to abide by 2002 Ethiopia-Eritrea
Boundary Commission's (EEBC) delimitation decision, but despite
international intervention, mutual animosities, accusations and
armed posturing prevail, preventing demarcation; Ethiopia refuses to
withdraw to the delimited boundary until technical errors made by
the EEBC that ignored "human geography" are addressed, including the
award of Badme, the focus of the 1998–2000 war; Eritrea insists that
the EEBC decision be implemented immediately without modifications;
since 2000, the UN Peacekeeping Mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea
(UNMEE) monitors the 25km-wide Temporary Security Zone in Eritrea
until the demarcation; Sudan accuses Eritrea of supporting Sudanese
rebel groups; Eritrea protests Yemeni fishing around the Hanish
Islands awarded to Eritrea by the ICJ in 1999
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
IDPs: 59,000 (border war with Ethiopia from 1998–2000; most IDPs
are near the central border region) (2004)
This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005
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@Estonia
Introduction Estonia
Background:
After centuries of Danish, Swedish, German, and Russian rule,
Estonia attained independence in 1918. Forcibly incorporated into
the USSR in 1940, it regained its freedom in 1991, with the collapse
of the Soviet Union. Since the last Russian troops left in 1994,
Estonia has been free to promote economic and political ties with
Western Europe. It joined both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004.
Geography Estonia
Location:
Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland,
between Latvia and Russia
Geographic coordinates:
59 00 N, 26 00 E
Map references:
Europe
Area:
total: 45,226 sq km
land: 43,211 sq km
water: 2,015 sq km
note: includes 1,520 islands in the Baltic Sea
Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than New Hampshire and Vermont combined
Land boundaries: total: 633 km border countries: Latvia 339 km, Russia 294 km
Coastline: