The Argentine Republic, with a long Atlantic coastline stretching from Uruguay and the Plate River to Tierra del Fuego, occupies almost the whole of South America south of the Tropic of Capricorn and east of the Andes.

With an area of more than 2.78 million square km (excluding itsclaimed territory) and Buenos Aires as its capital, Argentina borders Chile to the west, Bolivia and Paraguay to the north, and Uruguay and Brazil to the northeast.

More than 90 percent of the country's 37.5 million population are adherents of the Roman Catholic Church. The official language is Spanish.

Argentina re-embraced civilian rule in 1983. Under the 1994 Constitution, legislative power is held by the bicameral parliament, namely, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

The president of the Republic, elected directly for a four-yearterm and renewable only once, is the constitutional head of state and Commander-in-Chief of the army. He also appoints members of the cabinet.

Argentina is a member of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the South American Common Market (Mercosur)

Argentina's gross domestic product (GDP) was about 330.9 billion peso (about 112.2 billion US dollars) in 2002, of which services accounted for 68.6 percent, industry, 26.6 percent, and agriculture, 4.8 percent, respectively.

Its principle trading partners are Brazil, the United States, Chile and China.