MOSCOW, June 20. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia and the European Union are developing vigorously border co-operation, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting of the council of regional chief executives at the Foreign Ministry on Friday.

“Despite the negative impact of Ukrainian crisis on Russia-EU relations their border co-operation is developing actively,” he said, noting that “We see an atmosphere of good neighbourly relations, trust and mutual understanding.”

“Debate over seven new programs of Russia-EU border co-operation for 2014-2020 continued with active involvement of Russian constituent entities,” the Russian top diplomat noted, adding that “Russia’s participation in trans-border co-operation in the Baltic Sea region, northern regions and the Arctic region is being worked on.”

“To generalise available experience the Ministry of Regional Development and the Finance Ministry are assessing socio-economic effect of current programs within which more than 200 joint projects had already been implemented,” Lavrov noted.

“We seek for improvement of legislative base of interregional ties, have already discussed the need to speed up enactment of the bill on foundations of border co-operation in Russia which is in the process of drafting the second reading of the bill in the State Duma (the lower house of parliament),” the Russian foreign minister noted.