Gabon
The original report was published in the USA Today on Thursday, February 17, 2011
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Oil has made the small, sparsely populated state of Gabon one of the wealthiest in Africa, but with production in decline new ways of securing the future must be found
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The Gabonese government is fighting poverty and social exclusion through broader access to healthcare
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Because Gabon’s economy depends on exports of raw materials – chiefly oil, wood and minerals – Gabon’s ports are vital to the country’s development
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Jean-François Ntoutoume has ambitious plans to turn his city into one of Africa’s cleanest and most beautiful and prosperous places to live
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As the cost of providing pensions and disability support is rising, the state is encouraging the large percentage of Gabonese workers and employers in the grey economy to contribute
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The Conseil Gabonais des Chargeurs (CGC), or Gabonese Loader Council, supervises the nation’s trade and freight sector to guarantee secure goods transportation
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Following years of being overlooked, investing heavily in public transport is now a government priority
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The city to which former slaves returned is now undergoing a new transition: City Hall is infusing new life into projects that will boost the economy and raise the quality of life
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Gabon is revving up to enter the limelight as a co-host of the continent’s most important sporting event: the African Cup of Nations (CAN)
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LOCATION:
Western Africa, bordering the Atlantic Ocean at the Equator, between Republic of the Congo and Equatorial Guinea
CAPITAL:
Libreville
AREA - comparative:
slightly smaller than Colorado
DISPUTES - international:
UN urges Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to resolve the sovereignty dispute over Gabon-occupied Mbane Island and lesser islands and to establish a maritime boundary in hydrocarbon-rich Corisco Bay
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 5.2%
industry: 53.7%
services: 41.1% (2010 est.)
AGRICULTURE - products:
cocoa, coffee, sugar, palm oil, rubber; cattle; okoume (a tropical softwood); fish
INDUSTRIES:
petroleum extraction and refining; manganese, gold; chemicals, ship repair, food and beverages, textiles, lumbering and plywood, cement
EXPORTS:
$9.371 billion (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 91
$5.941 billion (2009 est.)
EXPORTS - commodities:
crude oil 70%, timber, manganese, uranium
EXPORTS - partners:
US 24.4%, China 13.6%, France 6.3%, Malaysia 5.9%, Spain 5.8%, Germany 5.3%, Trinidad and Tobago 4.8%, South Korea 4% (2009)
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