Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$176.1 million (FY02)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.4% (FY02)
Transnational Issues Belarus
Disputes - international:
1997 boundary treaty with Ukraine remains unratified over
unresolved financial claims, preventing demarcation and encouraging
illegal border crossing; boundaries with Latvia and Lithuania remain
undemarcated despite European Union financial support
Illicit drugs:
limited cultivation of opium poppy and cannabis, mostly for the
domestic market; transshipment point for illicit drugs to and via
Russia, and to the Baltics and Western Europe; lax money-laundering
and banking regulations
This page was last updated on 18 December, 2003
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@Belgium
Introduction Belgium
Background:
Belgium became independent from the Netherlands in 1830 and was
occupied by Germany during World Wars I and II. It has prospered in
the past half century as a modern, technologically advanced European
state and member of NATO and the EU. Tensions between the
Dutch-speaking Flemings of the north and the French-speaking
Walloons of the south have led in recent years to constitutional
amendments granting these regions formal recognition and autonomy.