Location: Southern Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and India. Area: total: 144,000 sq km land: 133,910 sq km water: 10,090 sq km Climate: Tropical; mild winter (October to March); hot, humid summer (March to June); humid, warm rainy monsoon (June to October) Terrain: mostly flat alluvial plain; hilly in southeast Capital: Dhaka Administrative divisions: 6 divisions; Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, and Sylhet Population: 144,319,628 (2005 est.) Ethnic groups: Bengali 98%, tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims (1998) Nationality: noun: Bangladeshi(s) adjective: Bangladeshi Languages: Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English Religions: Muslim 83%, Hindu 16%, other 1% (1998) Literacy: 43.1%

Government type: parliamentary democracy Executive branch: � chief of state: President Iajuddin AHMED (since September 2002) � head of government: Prime Minister Khaleda ZIA (since October 2001) � cabinet: Cabinet selected by the prime minister and appointed by the president � elections: president elected by National Parliament for a five-year term National Holiday: 26 March (1971) ACD Member: ACD Member since 2002 Prime Mover (PM) on Working Group: Poverty Alleviation Co-Prime Mover on Working Group: None Bangladesh government official web site : www.bangladesh.gov.bd

Currency (code): taka (BDT) GDP: $299.9 billion (2005 est.) GDP per capita: $2,100 (2005 est.) Exports - commodities: garments, jute and jute goods, leather, frozen fish and seafood Exports - partners: US , Germany , UK , France , Italy Imports: $10.03 billion (2004 est.) Imports - commodities: Machinery and equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs, petroleum products, cement Imports - partners: India 15.1%, China 12.5%, Singapore 7.5%, Kuwait 5.5%, Japan 5.3%, Hong Kong 4.5% (2004) Agriculture - products: rice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses, oil seed, spices, fruit; beef, milk, poultry Industries: cotton textiles, jute, garments, tea processing, paper newsprint, cement, chemicals, fertilizer, light engineering, sugar Source : The World Fact Book 2005 (www.cia.gov)