SRG

$NA

Currency (code):

Surinam dollar (SRD)

Currency code:

Exchange rates:

Surinamese dollars (SRD) per US dollar - 2.745 (2007), 2.745 (2006), 2.7317 (2005), 2.7336 (2004), 2.6013 (2003) note: in January 2004, the government replaced the guilder with the Surinamese dollar, tied to a US dollar-dominated currency basket

Communications
Suriname

Telephones - main lines in use:

81,500 (2006)

Telephones - mobile cellular:

320,000 (2006)

Telephone system:

general assessment: international facilities are good domestic: combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity about 90 telephones per 100 persons; microwave radio relay network international: country code - 597; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations:

AM 4, FM 13, shortwave 1 (1998)

Radios:

300,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations:

3 (plus 7 repeaters) (2000)

Televisions:

63,000 (1997)

Internet country code:

.sr

Internet hosts:

33 (2008)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):

2 (2000)

Internet users:

44,000 (2007)

Transportation
Suriname

Airports:

50 (2007)

Airports - with paved runways:

total: 5 over 3,047 m: 1 under 914 m: 4 (2007)

Airports - with unpaved runways:

total: 45 914 to 1,523 m: 5 under 914 m: 40 (2007)

Pipelines:

oil 50 km (2007)

Roadways:

total: 4,304 km paved: 1,130 km unpaved: 3,174 km (2003)

Waterways:

1,200 km (most navigable by ships with drafts up to 7 m) (2005)

Merchant marine:

total: 1 by type: cargo 1 (2008)

Ports and terminals:

Paramaribo, Wageningen

Military
Suriname

Military branches:

National Army (Nationaal Leger, NL; includes Naval Wing, Air Wing) (2007)

Military service age and obligation:

18 years of age (est.); recruitment is voluntary, with personnel drawn almost exclusively from the Creole community (2007)

Manpower available for military service:

males age 16-49: 130,534 females age 16-49: 130,243 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:

males age 16-49: 105,770 females age 16-49: 109,666 (2008 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 4,329 female: 4,350 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures:

0.6% of GDP (2006 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 18 December, 2008

@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: