But one of the chief attributes of an independent country is still lacking: recognised frontiers.
First Brazil seeks to become an independent country with a personality of its own.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: A closer look at Brazil's foreign policy
He said the UK was "still an independent country" and "we can have an independent foreign policy".
Croatia will be the second independent country from within the former Yugoslavia to join the EU, after Slovenia.
Many of these fighters left for Pakistan after Bangladesh became an independent country that year, but others stayed.
After Mr Djukanovic fell out with Mr Milosevic, Montenegro operated as an independent country in all but name.
Many of these fighters left for Pakistan after Bangladesh became an independent country that year, but many others stayed.
For most of its history as an independent country, Brazil saw Argentina as its chief rival and strategic threat.
"Syria is an independent country, and Iran respects its sovereignty, " said the spokesman.
France is an independent country and cares about its independence but in old friendship with the United States of America.
Eastern Pakistan is a reference to Bangladesh, which had been part of Pakistan until it became an independent country in 1971.
Support for Wales to become an independent country outside the UK remained weak, rising from 7% last year to 9% this year.
While many countries recognise it as an independent country, Serbia does not.
The government of Luxembourg has warned against Scotland becoming an independent country.
After nearly 300 years as part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the treaty ending World War I established Czechoslovakia as an independent country.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: 'Free' Czechoslovakia?: Shadows Over The Transition
The Yes Scotland campaign is trying to persuade a majority of voters that Scotland would be wealthier and fairer as an independent country.
But nor is the idea that Scotland could win significant economic freedom as an independent country - without giving up anything significant in return.
And how would EU solvency requirements for defined benefit and hybrid pensions schemes be met across the UK if Scotland became an independent country?
It became an independent country in 1943 but has been strongly influenced by Syria both politically and militarily for much of the time since.
In fact, Greece has told the people it owes money to exactly this for 50% of the time it has been an independent country.
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The unique example which Switzerland sets as a neutral, internationally-minded, independent country is too valuable in today's uncertain world to dismiss as merely isolationist.
Otherwise, our inability as an independent country to react to dynamic world events will be severely curtailed, leading to inescapable and uncontrollable global scenarios.
It hadn't won gold in the sport since it started competing in the Olympics as an independent country following the breakup of the Soviet Union.
We have always been clear that there will be negotiations on the specific terms of Scotland's continued membership of the EU as an independent country.
Both the Indonesian portion of the island in the west, and the independent country of Papua New Guinea in the east have infection rates of over 1%.
It was a different environment then: oil was much cheaper than it is today and the newly independent country needed all the investment and help it could get.
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Curacao is a former Dutch colony and now forms an independent country within the kingdom of the Netherlands, but it still relies on the Netherlands for defence and foreign policy.
So Ghana has really been able to do all things that I feel ... we need to share with the rest of Africa as we were the first independent country.
Slovenia's concern, beside a fear of re-colonisation by neighbours after only ten years as an independent country, was the stability of its currency in the face of large capital inflows or outflows.
He said that, as an independent country, Scotland would have the "advantages of oil but the disadvantages of an over-extended banking system", while other costs like pensions and benefits would come into play.
BBC: Scottish independence: David Cameron in referendum offer
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