e Iceland Defence Force, and remained throughout the Cold War; the US withdrew the last of its forces on 30 September 2006.
Iceland had prospered during the war, and the immediate post-war period was followed by substantial economic growth, driven by industrialisation of the fishing industry and the Marshall Plan programme, through which Icelanders received by far the most aid per capita of any European country (at USD 209, with the war-ravaged Netherlands a distant second at USD 109). The 1970s were marked by the Cod Wars — several disputes with the United Kingdom over Iceland's extension of its fishing limits. The economy was greatly diversified and liberalised when Iceland joined the European Economic Area in 1994.
Iceland hosted a summit in Reykjavik in 1986 between United States President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, during which they took significant steps toward nuclear disarmament. Only a few years later, Iceland would become the first country to recognize the independence of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as they broke away from the USSR. Throughout the 1990s, the country expanded its international role and developed a foreign policy that was oriented toward humanitarian and peacekeeping causes. To that end, Iceland provided aid and expertise to various NATO-led interventions in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Iraq.
Rise and fall of Iceland as a financial centre
See also: 2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis and 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests
In the years 2003–2007, following the privatization of the banking sector under the government of Davíð Oddsson, Iceland moved from being a nation best known for its fishing industry toward having an economy based on financial services and investment banking. It was quickly becoming one of the most prosperous countries in the world before getting hit hard by a major financial crisis. The crisis resulted in the greatest migration from Iceland
