GRT or over) 77,523 GRT/108,352 DWT
by type: cargo 3, passenger/cargo 4, petroleum tanker 2, roll
on/roll off 1, bulk carrier 3
foreign-owned: 2 (Germany 1, Isle of Man 1)
registered in other countries: 5 (2005)

Airports:
116 (2004 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 46
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 11
914 to 1,523 m: 27
under 914 m: 5 (2004 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 70
1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 29
under 914 m: 39 (2004 est.)

Military New Zealand

Military branches:
New Zealand Army, Royal New Zealand Navy, Royal New Zealand Air
Force

Military service age and obligation:
17 years of age for voluntary military service; soldiers cannot be
deployed until the age of 18 (2001)

Manpower available for military service:
males age 17-49: 984,700 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
males age 17-49: 809,519 (2005 est.)

Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males: 29,738 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$1.147 billion (FY03/04)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1% (FY02)

Transnational Issues New Zealand

Disputes - international:
asserts a territorial claim in Antarctica (Ross Dependency) [see
Antarctica]

This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005

======================================================================

@Nicaragua

Introduction Nicaragua

Background:
The Pacific Coast of Nicaragua was settled as a Spanish colony from
Panama in the early 16th century. Independence from Spain was
declared in 1821 and the country became an independent republic in
1838. Britain occupied the Caribbean Coast in the first half of the
19th century, but gradually ceded control of the region in
subsequent decades. Violent opposition to governmental manipulation
and corruption spread to all classes by 1978 and resulted in a
short-lived civil war that brought the Marxist Sandinista guerrillas
to power in 1979. Nicaraguan aid to leftist rebels in El Salvador
caused the US to sponsor anti-Sandinista contra guerrillas through
much of the 1980s. Free elections in 1990, 1996, and again in 2001
saw the Sandinistas defeated. The country has slowly rebuilt its
economy during the 1990s, but was hard hit by Hurricane Mitch in
1998.

Geography Nicaragua

Location:
Central America, borde