paved: 9,673.5 km
unpaved: 12,042.5 km (1998 est.)

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 and harbors: none

Merchant marine:
total: 1 cargo ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 2,370 GRT/3,000 DWT
(1998 est.)

Airports: 52 (1998 est.)

Airports--with paved runways:
total: 9
over 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 5
914 to 1,523 m: 3 (1998 est.)

Airports--with unpaved runways:
total: 43
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 17
under 914 m: 25 (1998 est.)

Military

Military branches: Lao People's Army (LPA; includes militia
element), Lao People's Navy (LPN; includes riverine element), Air
Force, National Police Department

Military manpower--military age: 18 years of age

Military manpower--availability:
males age 15-49: 1,200,664 (1999 est.)

Military manpower--fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 648,087 (1999 est.)

Military manpower--reaching military age annually:
males: 57,047 (1999 est.)

Military expenditures--dollar figure: $77.4 million (FY96/97)

Military expenditures--percent of GDP: 4.2% (FY96/97)

Transnational Issues

Disputes--international: parts of the border with Thailand are
indefinite

Illicit drugs: world's third-largest illicit opium producer
(estimated cultivation in 1998--26,100 hectares, a 7% decrease over
1997; estimated potential production in 1998--140 metric tons, a 33%
decrease over 1997); potential heroin producer; transshipment point
for heroin and methamphetamines produced in Burma; illicit producer
of cannabis

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@Latvia
------

Introduction

Background: Along with most of the other small nations of Europe,
Latvia shares a history of invasion by a succession of expansionist
nations, e.g., Sweden, Poland, Germany, and Russia. After a brief
period of independence between the two World Wars, Latvia was
annexed by the USSR in 1940 under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The
USSR recaptured Latvia from its German occupiers in 1944. Latvia
reestablished its independence in August 1991, a few months prior to
the collapse of the Soviet Union; the last Russian troops left in
1994. The status of ethnic Russians, who make up 30% of the
popu