uriname

Military branches:
National Army, Naval Element, Air Wing (2006)

Military service age and obligation:
18 years of age (est.); no conscription

Manpower available for military service:
males age 18-49: 111,582
females age 18-49: 103,769 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 77,793
females age 18-49: 72,943 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$7.5 million (2003 est.)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
0.7% (2003 est.)

Transnational Issues Suriname

Disputes - international:
area claimed by French Guiana between Riviere Litani and Riviere
Marouini (both headwaters of the Lawa); Suriname claims a triangle
of land between the New and Kutari/Koetari rivers in a historic
dispute over the headwaters of the Courantyne; Guyana seeks United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) arbitration to
resolve the long-standing dispute with Suriname over the axis of the
territorial sea boundary in potentially oil-rich waters

Illicit drugs:
growing transshipment point for South American drugs destined for
Europe via the Netherlands and Brazil; transshipment point for
arms-for-drugs dealing

This page was last updated on 8 February, 2007

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@Svalbard

Introduction Svalbard

Background:
First discovered by the Norwegians in the 12th century, the islands
served as an international whaling base during the 17th and 18th
centuries. Norway's sovereignty was recognized in 1920; five years
later it officially took over the territory.

Geography Svalbard

Location:
Northern Europe, islands between the Arctic Ocean, Barents Sea,
Greenland Sea, and Norwegian Sea, north of Norway

Geographic coordinates:
78 00 N, 20 00 E

Map references:
Arctic Region

Area:
total: 61,020 sq km
land: 61,020 sq km
water: 0 sq km
note: includes Spitsbergen and Bjornoya (Bear Island)

Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than West Virginia

Land boundaries:
0 km

Coastline:
3,587 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 4 nm
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm unilaterally claimed by Norway but
not recognized by Russia

Climate:
arctic, tempered by warm North Atlantic Current; cool summers, cold
winters; North Atlantic Current flows along west and north coasts of
Spitsbergen, keeping water op