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Exchange rates:

Barbadian dollars (BBD) per US dollar - NA (2007), 2 (2006), 2 (2005), 2 (2004), 2 (2003)

Communications

Barbados

Telephones - main lines in use:

134,900 (2005)

Telephones - mobile cellular:

237,100 (2006)

Telephone system:

general assessment: fixed-line teledensity of roughly 50 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular telephone density of about 85 per 100 persons domestic: island-wide automatic telephone system international: country code - 1–246; landing point for the East Caribbean Fiber System (ECFS) submarine cable with links to 13 other islands in the eastern Caribbean extending from the British Virgin Islands to Trinidad; satellite earth stations - 1 (Intelsat -Atlantic Ocean); tropospheric scatter to Trinidad and Saint Lucia (2007)

Radio broadcast stations:

AM 2, FM 6, shortwave 0 (2004)

Radios:

237,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations:

1 (plus 2 cable channels) (2004)

Televisions:

76,000 (1997)

Internet country code:

.bb

Internet hosts:

104 (2008)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):

19 (2000)

Internet users:

160,000 (2005)

Transportation

Barbados

Airports:

1 (2007)

Airports - with paved runways:

total: 1 over 3,047 m: 1 (2007)

Roadways:

total: 1,600 km paved: 1,600 km (2004)

Merchant marine:

total: 85 by type: bulk carrier 15, cargo 50, chemical tanker 7, passenger 1, passenger/cargo 1, petroleum tanker 3, refrigerated cargo 6, roll on/roll off 2 foreign-owned: 80 (Canada 9, Greece 12, India 1, Iran 2, Lebanon 1, Norway 38, Sweden 7, Syria 1, UK 9) registered in other countries: 1 (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1) (2008)

Ports and terminals:

Bridgetown

Military

Barbados

Military branches:

Royal Barbados Defense Force: Troops Command, Barbados Coast Guard (2007)

Military service age and obligation:

18 years of age for voluntary military service (younger requires parental consent); no conscription (2008)

Manpower available for military service:

males age 16–49: 75,265 females age 16–49: 75,389 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:

males age 16–49: 58,556 females age 16–49: 58,143 (2008 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 2,157 female: 2,155 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures:

0.5% of GDP (2006 est.)

Military - note:

the Royal Barbados Defense Force includes a land-based Troop Command and a small Coast Guard; the primary role of the land element is to defend the island against external aggression; the Command consists of a single, part-time battalion with a small regular cadre that is deployed throughout the island; it increasingly supports the police in patrolling the coastline to prevent smuggling and other illicit activities (2007)

Transnational Issues

Barbados

Disputes - international:

Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago abide by the April 2006 Permanent Court of Arbitration decision delimiting a maritime boundary and limiting catches of flying fish in Trinidad and Tobago's exclusive economic zone; joins other Caribbean states to counter Venezuela's claim that Aves Island sustains human habitation, a criterion under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which permits Venezuela to extend its EEZ/continental shelf over a large portion of the eastern Caribbean Sea

Illicit drugs:

one of many Caribbean transshipment points for narcotics bound for Europe and the US; offshore financial center

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

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@Belarus

Introduction

Belarus

Background:

After seven decades as a constituent republic of the USSR, Belarus attained its independence in 1991. It has retained closer political and economic ties to Russia than any of the other former Soviet republics. Belarus and Russia signed a treaty on a two-state union on 8 December 1999 envisioning greater political and economic integration. Although Belarus agreed to a framework to carry out the accord, serious implementation has yet to take place. Since his election in July 1994 as the country's first president, Alexandr LUKASHENKO has steadily consolidated his power through authoritarian means. Government restrictions on freedom of speech and the press, peaceful assembly, and religion continue.

Geography

Belarus

Location:

Eastern Europe, east of Poland

Geographic coordinates: