es--percent of GDP: 3.4% (1998)

Transnational Issues

Disputes--international: on October 26, 1998, Peru and Ecuador
concluded treaties on commerce and navigation and on boundary
integration, to complete a package of agreements settling the
long-standing boundary dispute between them; demarcation of the
agreed-upon boundary was scheduled to begin in mid-January 1999

Illicit drugs: significant transit country for derivatives of
coca originating in Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru; importer of
precursor chemicals used in production of illicit narcotics;
important money-laundering hub

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

@Egypt
-----

Introduction

Background: One of the four great ancient civilizations, Egypt,
ruled by powerful pharaohs, bequeathed to Western civilization
numerous advances in technology, science, and the arts. For the last
two millennia, however, Egypt has served a series of foreign
masters--Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Turks, and the
British. Formal independence came in 1922, and the remnants of
British control ended after World War II. The completion of the
Aswan High Dam in 1981 altered the time-honored place of the Nile
River in the agriculture and ecology of Egypt. A rapidly growing
population will stress Egyptian society and resources as it enters
the new millenium.

Geography

Location: Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea,
between Libya and the Gaza Strip

Geographic coordinates: 27 00 N, 30 00 E

Map references: Africa

Area:
total: 1,001,450 sq km
land: 995,450 sq km
water: 6,000 sq km

Area--comparative: slightly more than three times the size of New
Mexico

Land boundaries:
total: 2,689 km
border countries: Gaza Strip 11 km, Israel 255 km, Libya 1,150 km,
Sudan 1,273 km

Coastline: 2,450 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: desert; hot, dry summers with moderate winters

Terrain: vast desert plateau interrupted by Nile valley and delta

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Qattara Depression -133 m
highest point: Mount Catherine 2,629 m

Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates,
manganese, limestone, gypsum, talc, asbestos, lead, zinc

Land use