997)

Television broadcast stations: 1 (plus one cable company) (1997)

Televisions: 4,000 (1997)

Internet country code: .vg

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 16 (2000)

Internet users: NA

Transportation British Virgin Islands

Railways: 0 km

Highways: total: 177 km paved: 177 km unpaved: 0 km (2000)

Waterways: none

Ports and harbors: Road Town

Merchant marine: total: 1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 70,285
GRT/6,946 DWT ships by type: passenger 1 (2002 est.)

Airports: 3 (2001)

Airports - with paved runways: total: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m:
1 (2001)

Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2001)

Military British Virgin Islands

Military - note: defense is the responsibility of the UK

Transnational Issues British Virgin Islands

Disputes - international: none

Illicit drugs: transshipment point for South American narcotics destined
for the US and Europe

This page was last updated on 1 January 2002

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

Vietnam

Introduction

Vietnam

Background: France occupied all of Vietnam by 1884. Independence was
declared after World War II, but the French continued to rule until
1954 when they were defeated by Communist forces under Ho Chi MINH,
who took control of the north. US economic and military aid to South
Vietnam grew through the 1960s in an attempt to bolster the government,
but US armed forces were withdrawn following a cease-fire agreement in
1973. Two years later North Vietnamese forces overran the south. Economic
reconstruction of the reunited country has proven difficult as aging
Communist Party leaders have only grudgingly initiated reforms necessary
for a free market.

Geography Vietnam

Location: Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of
Tonkin, and South China Sea, alongside China, Laos, and Cambodia

Geographic coordinates: 16 00 N, 106 00 E

Map references: Southeast Asia

Area: total: 329,560 sq km land: 325,360 sq km water: 4,200 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly larger than New Mexico

Land boundaries: total: 4,639 km border countries: Cambodia 1,228 km,
China 1,281 km, Laos 2,130 km

Coastline: 3,444 km (excludes islands)

Maritime claims: contiguous zone: 24 NM territorial sea: 12 NM
continental shelf: 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin
exclusive economic zone: 200 NM

Climate: tropic