st.)

Inland waterways: about 4,587 km, primarily Mekong and tributaries;
2,897 additional kilometers are sectionally navigable by craft drawing
less than 0.5 m

Pipelines: petroleum products 136 km

Ports: none

Merchant marine:
total: 1 cargo ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 2,370 GRT/3,000 DWT

Airports:
total: 52
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 1
with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5
with paved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 3
with paved runways under 914 m: 25
with unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 1
with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 17

@Laos:Communications

Telephone system: 7,390 telephones (1986); service to general public
very poor; radio communications network provides generally erratic
service to government users
local: 16 telephone lines per 1,000 people
intercity: radio communications
international: 1 earth station

Radio:
broadcast stations: AM 10, FM 0, shortwave 0
radios: NA

Television:
broadcast stations: 2
televisions: NA

@Laos:Defense Forces

Branches: Lao People's Army (LPA; includes riverine naval and militia
elements), Air Force, National Police Department

Manpower availability: males age 15-49 1,051,105; males fit for
military service 567,017; males reach military age (18) annually
51,437 (1995 est.)

Defense expenditures: exchange rate conversion - $105 million, 8.1% of
GDP (FY92/93)

________________________________________________________________________

LATVIA

@Latvia:Geography

Location: Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, between Estonia
and Lithuania

Map references: Europe

Area:
total area: 64,100 sq km
land area: 64,100 sq km
comparative area: slightly larger than West Virginia

Land boundaries: total 1,078 km, Belarus 141 km, Estonia 267 km,
Lithuania 453 km, Russia 217 km

Coastline: 531 km

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

International disputes: the Abrene section of border ceded by the
Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic to Russia in 1944

Climate: maritime; wet, moderate winters

Terrain: low plain

Natural resources: minimal; amber, peat, limestone, dolomite

Land use:
arable land: 27%
permanent crops: 0%
meadows and pastures: 13%
forest and woodland: 39%
other: 21%

Irrigated land: 160 sq km (1990)

Environment:
current issues: air and water polluti