Government Order No. 2577-r validating the Concept of Cross-Border Cooperation in the Russian Federation.

The Concept of cross-border cooperation in the Russian Federation contains the goals, factors and areas of activity of federal executive bodies, executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and local governments in the sphere of cross-border cooperation. The Concept takes into account the accumulated experience of cross-border cooperation and is based on the unity and integrity of the territory and internal market of the Russian Federation and the coordination of national interests and the interests of the population of the border territory of the Russian Federation.
Cross-border cooperation is an important component of the international relations of the Russian Federation and is aimed at establishing and developing a constructive dialogue between the subjects of cross-border cooperation of the Russian Federation and the subjects of cross-border cooperation of neighboring states.
States, regions and municipalities interact in the economic, scientific, technical, humanitarian and other spheres. In implementing such interaction, the Russian Federation proceeds from the following principles: (a) mutual respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other States; (b) peaceful resolution of border disputes; (c) mutual respect for the legislation of States implementing border cooperation, as well as relevant international treaties; (c) ensuring the interests of the Russian Federation in cross-border cooperation; (d) not causing damage to the economic and other interests of States implementing cross-border cooperation; and (d) taking into account the specific features of the border territories of the Russian Federation and adjacent states, including their heterogeneity, the nature of interstate relations and historically established ties with adjacent states, natural resource, socio-economic, urban planning, transport conditions for the development of the border territory, as well as the nature of the risk to the national security of the Russian Federation in the border territory.
The objectives of cross-border cooperation shall be as follows: (a) development and strengthening of economic, transport, cultural and humanitarian ties; (b) simplification of mutual communication between interested government bodies, business circles and population groups, including ethnic communities; (c) joint creation and effective development of economic and social infrastructure; (d) joint solution of economic, transport, energy, communal, environmental, socio-demographic, migration, humanitarian and other problems; and (e) prompt interaction with neighboring states in order to prevent emergency situations in a timely manner.
Cross-border cooperation shall be implemented in the following forms: (a) meetings, consultations and other events on issues of cross-border cooperation; (b) concluding agreements, including contracts for the purpose of attracting investments in the sphere of industrial and agricultural cooperation, finance and ecology related to cross-border cooperation; (c) creation of working groups, sub-commissions for the development of cross-border cooperation; (d) implementation of projects within the framework of joint cross-border cooperation programs with foreign states or their associations; (e) joint resolution of issues related to sanitary and quarantine control, protection of border areas from the introduction of contagious animal diseases, unification of requirements ensuring the safety of transportation (movement) of animals, as well as the import of raw materials and products of animal origin; (f) cooperation in the field of plant quarantine, including the development of joint measures to improve quarantine phytosanitary security and the level of protection of border areas; (g) cooperation in the development of exports of agricultural commodities and food from the Russian Federation to the territory of neighboring states; (h) protection and rational use of transboundary waters and their ecosystems, ensuring the appropriate technical condition of hydraulic engineering and water protection structures on transboundary waters; and (i) development of unified rules for fishing, interaction in resolving issues of distributing national quotas for catching aquatic biological resources, implementation of joint measures for the conservation and reproduction of fish stocks and control over their use.