Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.2% (2003)
Transnational Issues Bangladesh
Disputes - international:
discussions with India remain stalled to delimit a small section of
river boundary, exchange 162 miniscule enclaves in both countries,
allocate divided villages, and stop illegal cross-border trade,
migration, and violence; Bangladesh protests India's attempts to
fence off high-traffic sections of the porous boundary; dispute with
India over New Moore/South Talpatty/Purbasha Island in the Bay of
Bengal deters maritime boundary delimitation; Burmese Muslim
refugees strain Bangladesh's meager resources
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
IDPs: 61,000 (land conflicts, religious persecution) (2004)
Illicit drugs:
transit country for illegal drugs produced in neighboring countries
This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005
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@Barbados
Introduction Barbados
Background:
The island was uninhabited when first settled by the British in
1627. Slaves worked the sugar plantations established on the island
until 1834 when slavery was abolished. The economy remained heavily
dependent on sugar, rum, and molasses production through most of the
20th century. The gradual introduction of social and political
reforms in the 1940s and 1950s led to complete independence from the
UK in 1966. In the 1990s, tourism and manufacturing surpassed the
sugar industry in economic importance.