The book studies the "growth points" and priority clusters of the border territories of the Russian Federation (the Far East, the Republic of Karelia, Murmansk and Kaliningrad oblasts). It assesses the level and state of cross-border cooperation between Russia and Belarus and identifies the directions of further cooperation between the two Union States. The paper assesses the state of cross-border trade and identifies priority "points of growth" of the border regions and substantiates the criteria that allow comparing the regional development programmes of Russia's border areas with similar programmes of the PRC, Brazil, Mongolia, Spain and other developing countries.