cts 500 km; natural
gas 5,600 km

Ports and harbors: Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Devonport
(Tasmania), Fremantle, Geelong, Hobart (Tasmania), Launceston
(Tasmania), Mackay, Melbourne, Sydney, Townsville

Merchant marine: total: 54 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling
1,558,371 GRT/2,038,776 DWT

ships by type: bulk 26, cargo 3, chemical tanker 5, container 1,
liquefied gas 4, passenger 2, petroleum tanker 7, roll on/roll off 6
(2000 est.)

Airports: 411 (2000 est.)

Airports - with paved runways: total: 271

over 3,047 m: 10

2,438 to 3,047 m: 12

1,524 to 2,437 m: 118

914 to 1,523 m: 122

under 914 m: 9 (2000 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 140

1,524 to 2,437 m: 17

914 to 1,523 m: 112

under 914 m: 11 (2000 est.)

Australia Military

Military branches: Australian Army, Royal Australian Navy, Royal
Australian Air Force

Military manpower - military age: 17 years of age

Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 4,990,107 (2001
est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49:
4,303,966 (2001 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 138,971
(2001 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $6.9 billion (FY98/99)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.9% (FY98/99)

Australia Transnational Issues

Disputes - international: territorial claim in Antarctica
(Australian Antarctic Territory)

Illicit drugs: Tasmania is one of the world's major suppliers of
licit opiate products; government maintains strict controls over
areas of opium poppy cultivation and output of poppy straw
concentrate

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@Austria

Austria Introduction

Background: Once the center of power for the large Austro-Hungarian
Empire, Austria was reduced to a small republic after its defeat in
World War I. Following annexation by Nazi Germany in 1938 and
subsequent occupation by the victorious Allies, Austria's 1955 State
Treaty declared the country "permanently neutral" as a condition of
Soviet military withdrawal. Neutrality, once ingrained as part of
the Austrian cultural identity, has been called into question since
the Soviet collapse of 1991 and Austria's increasingly prominent
role in European affairs. A prosperous country, Austria joined the
European Union in 1995 and the euro monetary system in 1999.

Austria Geogra