(non-regional),
CE, CERN, EBRD, ECE, EIB, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 5, G- 7, G-10, IADB,
IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO,
IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MINURSO,
MTCR, NACC, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OSCE,
PCA, UN, UN Security Council (temporary), UNAMIR, UNCRO, UNCTAD,
UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNOMIG, UNPROFOR, UPU, WEU, WHO, WIPO,
WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC

Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Juergen CHROBOG
chancery: 4645 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20007
telephone: [1] (202) 298-4000
FAX: [1] (202) 298-4249
consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston,
Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Seattle

US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission: Ambassador Charles E. REDMAN
embassy: Deichmanns Aue 29, 53170 Bonn
mailing address: APO AE 09080, PSC 117, Bonn
telephone: [49] (228) 3391
FAX: [49] (228) 339-2663
branch office: Berlin
consulate(s) general: Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig,
Munich, and Stuttgart

Flag: three equal horizontal bands of black (top), red, and yellow

Economy
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Economic overview: Germany, the world's third-most powerful
economy, faces its own unique problem of bringing its eastern area
up to scratch after 45 years of communist rule. Despite substantial
progress toward economic integration, the eastern states will
continue to rely on subsidies from the federal government into the
next century. Assistance to the east of about $100 billion annually
has helped the region average nearly 8% annual economic growth since
1991, even though the overall German economy has averaged less than
2% growth. The economic recovery in the east has been led by the
construction industries, with growth increasingly supported by the
service sectors and light manufacturing industries. Western Germany,
which accounts for 90% of overall German GDP and has three times the
per capita income of eastern Germany, is perennially the first- or
second-largest exporter, after the US, in the world. Nonetheless,
business and political leaders have in recent years become
increasingly concerned about Germany's apparent decline in
attractiveness as a business location. They cite the increasing
preference of German companies to locate manufacturing facilities -
long the strength of the post