Turkey - Tips
Turkey
Bureau of European and Eurasian
Affairs
June
2007
Background Note:
Turkey
Flag of Turkey is red with a vertical white crescent (the closed
portion is
toward the hoist side) and white five-pointed star
centered just outside the
crescent
opening.
PROFILE
OFFICIAL
NAME:
Republic of
Turkey
Geography
Area: 780,580 sq.
km.
Cities: Capital--Ankara (pop. 4.4 million). Other cities--Istanbul
(11.8
million), Izmir (3.7 million), Bursa
(2.4 million), Adana (1.9 million).
Terrain:
Narrow coastal plain surrounds Anatolia, an inland plateau becomes
increasingly rugged as it progresses eastward. Turkey includes one of
the
more earthquake-prone areas of the
world.
Climate: Moderate in coastal areas, harsher temperatures
inland.
People
Nationality: Noun--Turk(s).
Adjective--Turkish.
Population (2006): 72.9
million.
Annual population growth rate (2004 est.):
1.33%.
Ethnic groups: Turkish, Kurdish,
other.
Religions: Muslim 99%, Christian, Bahai, and
Jewish.
Languages: Turkish (official), Kurdish, Zaza, Arabic, Armenian,
Greek.
Education: Years
compulsory--8. Attendance--97.6%.
Literacy--86.5%.
Health: Infant mortality rate--39.4/1,000. Life expectancy--68.5
yrs.
Work force (23
million): Agriculture--35.6%;
industry--17.5%;
services--47.2%.
Government
Type:
Republic.
Independence: October 29,
1923.
Constitution: November 7,
1982.
Branches: Executive--president (chief of state), prime minister (head
of
government), Council of Ministers
(cabinet--appointed by the president on the
nomination of the prime
minister). Legislative--Grand National Assembly (550
members) chosen
by national elections at least every 5
years.
Judicial--Constitutional Court, Court of Cassation, Council of State,
and
other
courts.
Political parties in Parliament: Justice and Development Party
(AK),
Republican
People's Party (CHP), True Path Party (DYP), Motherland
Party
(ANAVATAN) and Emerging Peoples' Party
(HYP).
Suffrage: Universal, 18 and
older.
National holiday: Republic Day, October
29.
Economy
GDP: (2004) $300.6 billion; (2005) $361.5 billion; (2006) $390.4
billion.
Annual real GDP growth rate: (2004) (+)
8.9%; (2005) 7.4%; (2006) 6.0%.
GDP per
capita: (2004) $4,187; (2005) $5,016; (2006)
$5,349.
Annual inflation rate /CPI: (2003) 18.4%; (2004) 9.3%; (2005) 7.7%;
(2006)
9.7%.
Natural resources: Coal, chromium, mercury, copper, boron, oil,
gold.
Agriculture (10.8% of
GNP): Major cash crops--cotton, sugar beets, hazelnuts,
wheat, barley,
and tobacco. Provides 26% of jobs and 4% of
exports.
Industry (25.4% of GNP): Major growth sector, types--automotive,
electronics,
food processing, textiles, basic metals, chemicals, and
petrochemicals.
Provides 20% of
jobs.
Trade: Exports (merchandise)--(2005) $73.1 billion; (2006) $83.5
billion:
textiles and apparel, industrial
machinery, iron and steel, electronics,
petroleum products, and motor vehicles. Imports (merchandise)--(2005)
$116
billion; (2006) 135.5 billion: petroleum, machinery,
motor vehicles,
electronics, iron and steel, plastics precious metals.
Major
partners--Germany, U.S., Italy, France, Russia, Italy, Japan,
Netherlands,
U.K.
PEOPLE
Modern Turkey encompasses bustling cosmopolitan centers, pastoral
farming
villages, barren wastelands, peaceful
Aegean coastlines, and steep mountain
regions. More than half
of Turkey's population lives in urban areas that
juxtapose Western lifestyles with more traditional ways of
life.
The Turkish state has been officially secular since 1924.
Approximately 99%
of the population is Muslim. Most Turkish
Muslims follow the Sunni traditions
of Islam, although a significant
number follow Alevi and Shiite traditions.
Questions regarding
role of religion in society and government, the role of
linguistic and ethnic identity, and the public's expectation to live
in
security dominate public discourse.
Turkish citizens who assert a Kurdish
identity
constitute an ethnic and linguistic group that is estimated at up to
12 million in
number.
HISTORY
Mustafa Kemal, celebrated by the Turkish State as a Turkish World War
I hero
and later known as "Ataturk" or "father of the Turks," led the
founding of
the Republic of Turkey in 1923 after the
collapse of the 600-year-old Ottoman
Empire and a three-year war of
independence. The empire, which at its peak
controlled
vast stretches of northern Africa, southeastern Europe,
and
western Asia, had failed to
keep pace with European social and technological
developments. The
rise of national consciousness impelled several national
groups within the Empire to seek independence as nation-states, leading
to
the empire's fragmentation. This process culminated in
the disastrous Ottoman
participation in World War I as a German ally.
Defeated, shorn of much of its
former territory, and partly occupied
by forces of the victorious European
states, the Ottoman
structure was repudiated by Turkish nationalists brought
together
under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal. The nationalists
expelled
invading Greek, Russian, French and
Italian forces from Anatolia in a bitter
war. After the proclamation
of the Republic of Turkey the temporal and
religious ruling institutions of the old empire (the sultanate and
caliphate)
were
abolished.
The leaders of the new republic concentrated on consolidating their
power and
modernizing and Westernizing what had been the empire's
core--Asian Anatolia
and a part of European Thrace. Social,
political, linguistic, and economic
reforms and attitudes
decreed by Ataturk from 1924-1934 continue to
be
referred to as the ideological
base of modern Turkey. In the post-Ataturk
era, and
especially after the military coup of 1960, this ideology came to be
known as "Kemalism" and his reforms began to be referred to as
"revolutions."
Kemalism comprises a Turkish form of secularism, strong
nationalism, statism,
and to a degree a western orientation. The
continued validity
and
applicability of Kemalism are the subject of lively debate in
Turkey's
political life. The
current ruling AK Party comes from a tradition
that
challenges many of the Kemalist
precepts and is driven in its reform efforts
by a desire to achieve
EU
accession.
Turkey entered World War II on the Allied side until shortly before
the war
ended, becoming a charter member of the United Nations.
Difficulties faced by
Greece after World War II in quelling a
communist rebellion and demands by
the Soviet Union for
military bases in the Turkish Straits prompted the
United States to declare the Truman Doctrine in 1947. The doctrine
enunciated
American intentions to guarantee the security of Turkey and
Greece and
resulted in large
scale U.S. military and economic aid under the Marshall
Plan. After participating with United Nations forces in the Korean
conflict,
Turkey in 1952 joined the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO). Turkey
is currently a European Union
candidate.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL
CONDITIONS
The 1982 Constitution, drafted by the military in the wake of a 1980
military
coup, proclaims Turkey's system of government as democratic,
secular, and
parliamentary. The presidency's powers
are not precisely defined in practice,
and the president's influence
depends on his personality and political
weight. The president and the Council of Ministers led by the prime
minister
share executive powers. The president, who has broad powers
of appointment
and supervision, is chosen by Parliament
for a term of 7 years and cannot be
reelected. A constitutional
amendment recommending the direct election by the
people of the
president to a 5-year term, with the possibility of serving a
second 5-year term, may be submitted to a popular referendum in 2007.
The
prime minister administers the government. The
prime minister and the Council
of Ministers are responsible to
Parliament.
The 550-member Parliament carries out legislative functions. Election
is by
proportional representation. To participate in the
distribution of seats, a
party must obtain at least 10% of the
votes cast at the national level as
well as a
percentage of votes in the contested district according to
a
complex formula. The president
enacts laws passed by Parliament within 15
days.
With the exception of budgetary laws, the president may return a law
to
the Parliament for reconsideration. If Parliament reenacts the law,
it is
binding, although the president may then
apply to the Constitutional Court
for a reversal of the
law. Constitutional amendments pass with a 60% vote,
but
require a popular referendum unless passed with a two-thirds
majority;
the president may also submit amendments passed
with a two-thirds majority to
a popular
referendum.
The judiciary is declared to be independent, but the need for
judicial reform
and confirmation of its independence are subjects of
open debate.
Internationally recognized human rights, including freedom of
thought,
expression, assembly,
and travel, are officially enshrined in
the
Constitution but have at times been narrowly interpreted, can be limited
in
times of emergency and cannot be used to violate what the
Constitution and
the courts consider the integrity of the
state or to impose a system of
government based on religion, ethnicity, or the domination of one
social
class. The Constitution prohibits
torture or ill treatment; the current
government has focused on ensuring that practice matches principle.
Labor
rights, including the right to strike, are
recognized in the Constitution but
can be
restricted.
The 1982 Constitution provides for a system of State Security Courts
to deal
with offenses against the integrity of the state. The high
court system
includes a Constitutional
Court responsible for judicial review
of
legislation, a Court of Cassation (or Supreme Court of Appeals), a Council
of
State serving as the high administrative and appeals court, a Court
of
Accounts, and a Military Court
of Appeals. The High Council of Judges and
Prosecutors, appointed by the president, supervises the
judiciary.
In the November 2002 election of Turkey's 58th government, the
Justice and
Development Party (AK) captured 34.3% of the
total votes, making Abdullah Gul
Prime Minister, followed by the
Republican People's Party (CHP) with 19.39%
of the vote, led by
Deniz Baykal. A special General Election was held again
in the
province of Siirt in March 2003, resulting in the election of
AK's
chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan to a seat in
parliament, allowing him to become
prime minister. AK and CHP were the
only parties to surpass the 10% threshold
required to hold seats in
parliament. The elections resulted in 363 of the
550
seats going to AK, 178 seats to CHP, and 9 as independent. Due to
a
reshuffle in party affiliation, AK
holds 367 seats, CHP holds 175 seats, five
are independent, and three
joined the True Path Party (DYP). In March 2004
nationwide local elections, AKP won 57 of 81 provincial
capital
municipalities and, with 41.8% of the votes for provincial council
seats,
consolidated its hold on
power.
The Turkish Grand National Assembly was to have elected in May 2007 a
new
president to succeed President Sezer on June
16. Opposition parties led a
challenge to the
electoral procedures, which resulted in a series of proposed
constitutional amendments and the call for early general elections on
July
22. The election of a president is expected after
the new parliament has
assembled and formed a
government.
Principal Government
Officials
President of the Republic--Ahmet Necdet
Sezer
Prime Minister--Recep Tayyip
Erdogan
Minister of Foreign Affairs--Abdullah
Gul
Ambassador to the United States--Nabi
Sensoy
Ambassador to the United Nations--Umit
Pamir
Turkey maintains an embassy in the United States at 2525
Massachusetts Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20008, tel. (202) 612-6700.
Consulates general in Chicago
(360 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1405,
Chicago, IL 60601, tel: 312-263-0644, ext.
28); Los Angeles (4801
Wilshire Blvd., Suite 310, Los Angeles, CA 90010, tel:
323-937-0118);
New York (821 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017, tel:
212-949-0160); and Houston (1990 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 1300, Houston,
TX
77056, tel: 713-622-5849). The Permanent
Representative of Turkey to the
United
Nations is located on 821 United Nations Plaza, 10th floor, New York,
NY 10017, tel:
212-949-0150.
ECONOMY
Turkey is a large, middle-income country with relatively few
natural
resources.
Its economy is currently in transition from a high degree
of
reliance on agriculture and heavy
industrial economy to a more diversified
economy with an
increasingly large and globalized services sector. Coming out
of a
tradition of a state-directed economy that was relatively closed to the
outside world, Prime Minister and then President Turgut Ozal began to
open up
the economy in the 1980s, leading to the signing of a Customs
Union with the
European Union in 1995. In the 1990s, Turkey's economy
suffered from a series
of coalition governments with weak economic
policies, leading
to
high-inflation boom-and-bust cycles that culminated in a severe
banking and
economic crisis in 2001 and a deep economic
downturn (GNP fell 9.5% in 2001)
and increase in
unemployment.
Turkey's economy has recovered strongly from the 2001 thanks to good
monetary
and fiscal policies and structural economic reforms made with
the support of
the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
The independence of the
Central Bank has been firmly
established, a floating exchange rate system has
been put in place,
and the government's overall budget deficit has
been
substantially reduced. In
addition, there have been substantial reforms in
the
financial, energy, and telecommunications sectors that have included the
privatization of several large state-owned
institutions.
Turkey's economy grew an average of 7.5% per year from 2002 through
2006--one
of the highest sustained rates of growth in the world. It is
expected to grow
about 6.1% in 2007. Inflation and interest rates have
fallen significantly,
the currency has stabilized, government
debt has declined to more supportable
levels, and business and
consumer confidence have returned. At the same time,
booming economic
growth has contributed to a growing current account deficit.
Though
Turkey's vulnerabilities have been greatly reduced, the economy could
still face problems in the event there is a sudden change in
investor
sentiment that
leads to a sharp fall in the exchange rate.
Continued
implementation of reforms, including tight fiscal policy, is essential
to
sustain growth and
stability.
After years of low levels of foreign direct investment (FDI), in
2006, Turkey
succeeded in attracting $18.9 billion in foreign direct
investment (FDI) and
is expected to attract a similar level in 2007.
A series of
large
privatizations, the stability fostered by the start of Turkey's EU
accession
negotiations, strong and stable growth, and structural
changes in the
banking,
retail, and telecommunications sectors have all contributed to the
rise in foreign investment. Turkey has taken steps to improve its
investment
climate through administrative streamlining, an end to
foreign investment
screening, and strengthened
intellectual property legislation. However, a
number of disputes involving foreign investors in Turkey and
certain
policies,
such as high taxation and continuing gaps in the
intellectual
property regime, inhibit
investment. Turkey has a number of
bilateral
investment and
tax treaties, including with the United States,
which
guarantee free
repatriation of capital in convertible currencies
and
eliminate double
taxation.
EU Accession. Turkey's principal ongoing economic challenge is
providing for
the needs of a fast-growing, young population. Raising
living standards to
those prevalent in Europe will
require high rates of GDP growth sustained
over
many years. This will entail continued structural reforms that
encourage
both domestic and foreign investment. Principal areas for
reform identified
by international financial intuitions include
increasing flexibility in the
labor market, making the
educational sector more responsive to the needs of
the economy
and ensuring faster and more predictable operation of
the
judicial system. As an
aspirant to membership in the European Union, Turkey
aims to
adopt the EU's basic system of national law and regulation
(the
acquis communautaire) by 2014.
While implementing some elements of the acquis
will be costly and
difficult (for example in the areas of
environmental
protection and
agriculture), its adoption will make a
significant
contribution to modernizing the
economy.
Energy. Installed electricity generation capacity in Turkey reached
35,600
megawatts (MW) as of 2004. Fossil fuels account
for 71% of the total
installed capacity and hydro, geothermal, and wind account for the remaining
28%. The growth in electricity generation has remained below
electricity
demand until recently, which has
made Turkey a net importer of electricity
since 1997. The
growth of energy demand slowed somewhat as a result of the
2001 economic crisis, but has picked up again. Turkish authorities
expect a
significant electricity shortfall unless new
facilities become operational.
The Government of Turkey took
some important steps in 2001 to liberalize its
energy sector,
including passage of the Electricity Market Law
and
establishment of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA). However, the
government has moved slowly to follow through on plans to liberalize
and
privatize the electricity and natural gas
sectors. In 2004, the High Planning
Council approved the Electricity
Sector Reform Strategy to renew the reform
process.
Oil provides about 43% of Turkey's total energy requirements; around
90% is
imported. Domestic production is mostly from small
fields in the southeast.
New exploration is taking place in the
eastern Black Sea. In 2004, the
Parliament approved a petroleum market reform bill that liberalized consumer
prices and would lead to the privatization of the state refining
company
TUPRAS. TUPRAS was privatized in
2005, but this has been held up by court
cases
still in process. Turkey has a refining capacity of 802,275 barrels
per
day
(b/d).
Turkey acts as an important link in the East-West Southern Energy
Corridor
bringing Caspian, Central Asian, and Middle
Eastern energy to Europe and
world markets.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which came online in July
2006, delivers 1 million b/d of petroleum, and in 2007, the South
Caucasus
Pipeline (from Shah Deniz) is expected to bring
natural gas from Azerbaijan
to Turkey. Turkey is building an
interconnector pipeline to Greece, an
important step in bringing Caspian natural gas to Europe via
Turkey.
Telecommunications. Parliament enacted legislation
separating
telecommunications policy and regulatory functions in January 2000,
by
establishing an independent
regulatory body, the Telecommunication Authority.
The Authority is
responsible for issuing licenses, supervising operators, and
taking
necessary technical measures against violations of the rules.
Most
regulatory functions of the Transport Ministry
were transferred to the
Authority, and the regulator is slowly gaining competence and
independence.
The long-expected privatization of the
state-owned telecommunications company
was accomplished by the sale of
55% of Turk Telekom to the Saudi-owned Oger
Group in November
2005. With liberalization and growth in the economy, there
is growing
competition for Internet provision, but Turk Telekom remains the
sole provider of ADSL wide band
Internet.
Environment. With the establishment of the Environment Ministry in
1991,
Turkey began to make significant
progress addressing its most pressing
environmental problems. The most dramatic improvements were
significant
reductions of air pollution
in Istanbul and Ankara. However, progress has
been
slow on the remaining--and serious--environmental challenges
facing
Turkey.
In 2003, the Ministry of Environment was merged with the Forestry
Ministry.
With its goal to join the EU, Turkey has made
commendable progress in
updating and modernizing its environmental legislation.
However,
environmental concerns are not fully integrated into public
decision-making
and enforcement can be weak. Turkey faces a
backlog of environmental
problems, requiring enormous outlays for infrastructure. The most
pressing
needs are for water treatment plants, wastewater
treatment facilities, solid
waste management, and conservation of
biodiversity. The discovery of a number
of chemical waste sites in
2006 has highlighted weakness in environmental law
and
oversight.
Transport. The Turkish Government gives a special priority to
major
infrastructure projects, especially in the transport sector. The
government
is in the process of building new airports and
highways, thanks to an
increased public investment budget. The government will realize many of
these
projects by utilizing the build-operate-transfer (BOT)
model.
FOREIGN
RELATIONS
Turkey's primary political, economic, and security ties are with the
West,
although some voices call for a more "Eurasian"
orientation.
Turkey entered NATO in 1952 and serves as the organization's vital
eastern
anchor, controlling the straits leading from the
Black Sea to
the
Mediterranean and sharing a border with Syria, Iraq, and Iran. A
NATO
headquarters is
located in Izmir. Besides its relationships with NATO and the
EU,
Turkey is a member of the OECD, the Council of Europe, and OSCE. Turkey
also is a member of the UN and the Islamic Conference Organization
(OIC). In
December 1999, Turkey became a candidate for EU membership.
On December 17,
2004, the EU decided to begin formal accession
negotiations with Turkey in
October
2005.
Turkey and the EU formed a customs union beginning January 1, 1996.
The
agreement covers industrial and
processed agricultural goods. Turkey is
harmonizing its laws and regulations with EU standards. Turkey adopted
the
EU's Common External Tariff regime, effectively
lowering Turkey's tariffs for
third countries, including the United
States.
On October 3, 2005, Turkey and the EU reached agreement for Turkey to
begin
negotiations on accession to the European Union. Turkey
and EU officials have
begun the process of screening Turkey's laws and
policies in order to begin
negotiating the individual chapters
required for ultimate EU accession.
Turkey opened and provisionally closed in 2006 one EU negotiating
chapter on
science and technology. Another chapter on statistics was
opened in February
2007, and two more are expected to be opened by
July 1, 2007. Eight chapters,
mostly related to trade, were suspended
by the European Council in December
2006 after Turkey declined
to open its ports and airports to
Cypriot
vessels--a
commitment Turkey made as part of the Ankara Protocol and its EU
Customs Union
membership.
Turkey is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It has
signed free
trade agreements with the European Free Trade Association
(EFTA), Israel, and
many other countries. In 1992 Turkey and 10 other
regional nations formed the
Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC)
Council to expand regional trade and
economic
cooperation. Turkey chaired BSEC in 2007 and hosted in Istanbul the
15th BSEC Summit in June
2007.
U.S.-TURKEY
RELATIONS
U.S.-Turkish friendship dates to the late 18th century and was
officially
sealed by a treaty in 1830. The present
close relationship began with the
agreement of July
12, 1947, which implemented the Truman Doctrine. As part of
the
cooperative effort to further Turkish economic and
military
self-reliance, the United States has loaned and granted Turkey more
than
$12.5 billion in economic aid and more
than $14 billion in
military
assistance.
U.S.-Turkish relations focus on areas such as strategic energy
cooperation,
trade and investment, security ties, regional
stability, the global war on
terrorism, and human rights
progress. Relations were strained when Turkey
refused in March 2003 to allow U.S. troops to deploy through its territory
to
Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom, but regained momentum steadily
thereafter
and mutual interests remain strong across a
wide spectrum of issues.
The U.S. and Turkey have had a Joint Economic Commission and a Trade
and
Investment Framework Agreement, which
last met in Washington in April 2007,
for several years. In
2002, the two countries indicated their joint intent to
upgrade
bilateral economic relations by launching an Economic
Partnership
Commission, which last convened in
Ankara in February 2007. In 2006, Turkish
exports to the U.S. totaled
about $5.4 billion, and U.S. exports to Turkey
totaled
$5.7
billion.
Principal U.S.
Officials
Ambassador--Ross
Wilson
Deputy Chief of Mission--Nancy
McEldowney
Counselors
Political Affairs--Janice G.
Weiner
Political-Military Affairs--Carl
Siebentritt
Economic Affairs--Dale
Eppler
Regional Affairs--Thaddeus W.
Troy
Consular Affairs--Sandra
Shipshock
Management Affairs--Gerri H.
O'Brien
Public Affairs--Daniel
Sreebny
Agricultural Affairs--Ralph
Gifford
Commercial Affairs--James
Fluker
Defense Attache--Col. Charles
Schneider
Navy Attache--CDR David
Renberg
Army
Attache--(vacant)
The U.S. Embassy is located at 110 Ataturk Boulevard, Kavaklidere,
Ankara
06100, tel: (90) (312)
455-5555.
TRAVEL AND BUSINESS
INFORMATION
The U.S. Department of State's Consular Information Program advises
Americans
traveling and residing abroad through Consular Information
Sheets, Public
Announcements, and Travel Warnings.
Consular Information Sheets exist for all
countries and include
information on entry and exit requirements, currency
regulations, health conditions, safety and security, crime,
political
disturbances, and
the addresses of the U.S. embassies and consulates abroad.
Public
Announcements are issued to disseminate information quickly
about
terrorist threats and other relatively
short-term conditions overseas that
pose significant
risks to the security of American travelers. Travel Warnings
are
issued when the State Department recommends that Americans avoid travel
to a certain country because the situation is dangerous or
unstable.
For the latest security information, Americans living and traveling
abroad
should regularly monitor the Department's Bureau
of Consular Affairs Internet
web site at
http://www.travel.state.gov, where the
current Worldwide Caution,
Public Announcements, and Travel Warnings
can be found. Consular Affairs
Publications,
which contain information on obtaining passports and planning a
safe
trip abroad, are also available at
http://www.travel.state.gov.
For
additional information on international
travel, see
http://www.usa.gov/
Citizen/Topics/Travel/International.shtml.
The Department of State encourages all U.S citizens who traveling or
residing
abroad to register via the State Department's travel
registration website or
at the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate
abroad. Registration will make your
presence and whereabouts known in
case it is necessary to contact you in an
emergency and will
enable you to receive up-to-date information on security
conditions.
Emergency information concerning Americans traveling abroad may be
obtained
by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S. and
Canada or the regular
toll line 1-202-501-4444 for
callers outside the U.S. and
Canada.
The National Passport Information Center (NPIC) is the U.S.
Department of
State's single, centralized public
contact center for U.S.
passport
information. Telephone: 1-877-4USA-PPT (1-877-487-2778). Customer
service
representatives and operators for TDD/TTY
are available Monday-Friday, 7:00
a.m. to 12:00 midnight,
Eastern Time, excluding federal
holidays.
Travelers can check the latest health information with the U.S.
Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.
A hotline at 877-FYI-TRIP
(877-394-8747) and a web site at
http://www.cdc.gov/travel/index.htm
give the
most recent health advisories, immunization recommendations
or requirements,
and advice on food and drinking water safety for
regions and countries. A
booklet entitled "Health
Information for International Travel"
(HHS
publication number CDC-95-8280) is available from the U.S.
Government
Printing Office,
Washington, DC 20402, tel. (202)
512-1800.
Further Electronic
Information
Department of State Web Site. Available on the Internet at
http://
www.state.gov, the Department of State web
site provides timely, global
access to
official U.S. foreign policy information, including
Background
Notes and daily press briefings
along with the directory of key officers of
Foreign Service
posts and more. The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC)
provides
security information and regional news that impact U.S. companies
working abroad through its website
http://www.osac.gov
Export.gov provides a portal to all export-related assistance and
market
information offered by the federal
government and provides trade leads, free
export counseling, help
with the export process, and
more.
STAT-USA/Internet, a service of the U.S. Department of Commerce,
provides
authoritative economic, business, and
international trade information from
the Federal
government. The site includes current and
historical
trade-related releases, international market research, trade
opportunities,
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