MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. The Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol have been strengthening cooperation at the regional level with foreign countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the meeting with the heads of Russian regions on Tuesday.
"We believe that the work on making an inventory of agreements of federal subjects with foreign partners has been rather useful," Lavrov said.
He welcomed the decision of Russia’s Economic Development Ministry on setting up a working group on updating a bill on the basis of cross-border cooperation in Russia.
"We have been discussing this issue for a long time. I hope that we will bring this work to the end by joint efforts at this stage," Lavrov said speaking about the achievements which have been made since the previous meeting.
Lavrov said it is encouraging that the new Russian territories, Crimea and Sevastopol, "are actively strengthening external ties, including in the line with twin towns, non-governmental organizations and business missions."
A people’s referendum was held in Crimea on March 16, 2014, in which most people voted for reuniting with Russia. On March 18, 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Crimea’s integration into Russia.