The Republic of Argentina occupies most of the Southern Cone of South America and covers an area of 2,780,092 square km. It is the eighth largest country in the world and the second largest in South America. Argentina extends 3,880 km. from the subtropical region in the north to the icefields of the Antarctic. Included in this diversity are the Andes Mountains, the thorny scrubland and seasonal swamps of the Gran Chaco, the broad fertile plains of the Pampas, the stark tableland of Patagonia, and an undulating Atlantic coastline of some 4,700 km. The country is bounded by Chile to the south and west, Bolivia and Paraguay to the north, Brazil, Uruguay, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Buenos Aires is the capital.

The population is estimated at approximately 36 million. Nearly nine-tenths of the people live in urban areas, about a third in greater Buenos Aires. Spanish is the national language.

The economy of the country has changed dramatically in the last decade, having grown by over 50% since 1990. Argentina is a free market economy, supported by strict fiscal and monetary policies. There are no exchange controls, and the repatriation of profits is not regulated. The country is a member of Mercosur, a trade block formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, which has created a free trade zone along with common external tariffs since 1995.

Manufacturing and agriculture have dominated the Argentine economy since the 19th century, but its service sector has grown increasingly important. Argentina produces more grain and cattle than any nation in Latin America with the exception of Brazil. One of the world's major exporters of soybeans, wheat, lemons and meat, it is also one of the largest producers of wool and wine and its receipts from tourism are second in the region only to those of Mexico.

The Argentine industry is well served by the country's abundance of energy resources. With the exception of oil and natural gas, exploitable mineral reserves are generally small and widely scattered. Deposits of iron ore, uranium, lead, zinc, silver, copper, manganese and tungsten are worked in addition to a wide range of nonmetallic minerals found throughout the country (salt deposits, clay, limestone, granite, marble).

Argentina's currency is the Argentina peso (SWIFT code ARS). The country has adopted a fixed exchange rate since 1991 with the peso pegged to the US Dollar at a rate of one to one. This fixed exchange rate regime is strictly managed by a currency board, which maintains the rate via the country's foreign reserves where the Central Bank holds one US$ for every Argentine peso in circulation.