198 TILG Kiribati ceo networks

The 33 atolls that make up Kiribati - the former Gilbert Islands - occupy a vast area in the equatorial Pacific - nearly 4,000 km from east to west and more than 2,000 km from north to south.

Kiribati - pronounced Kiribas - won independence from the United Kingdom in 1979. Home to the South Pacific's largest marine reserve, many of the atolls are inhabited; most of them are very low-lying and at risk from rising sea levels as a result of global warming.

With the Fijian government's permission, Kiribati has bought land in Fiji for food security and as a possible refuge.

Kiribati's economy is weak and is largely dependent on exports of copra and coconuts. Fishing licences, foreign aid and remittances from workers abroad also contribute, as does a trust fund set up with revenues from phosphate mines on the island of Banaba, whose depletion in 1980 hit Kiribati hard.