The Republic of Karelia, a Subject of the Russian Federation, carries on the international co-operation within the framework of authorities instituted by Article 72, the Constitution of the Russian Federation, Federal Law on Co-ordination of the RF Subject’s International and External Economic Relations and also other the Russian Federation’s normative and legal acts.

This Programme refers to the international co-operation from the point of international and external economic relations of the Republic of Karelia, i.e. trade, economic, scientific, technical, ecological humanitarian, cultural and other relations with foreign partners.

Outstanding characteristics of the Republic’s international co-operation are as follows:

1. Foreign partners include subjects of foreign federative states; foreign states’ administrative and territorial entities or agencies of state power; international institutions; foreign states’ institutions, foreign legal or private persons;

2. Priority of international treaties duly signed and ratified by the Russian Federation over the Russian law. According to the Russian Constitution generally recognised principles and norms of international law and international treaties of the Russian Federation are a constituent part of the Russian law system;

3. Customs, frontier, passport & visa, migration and other formalities for the goods, individuals, humanitarian aid, material and cultural valuables to cross the Russian State Frontier;

4. Diversity of legal environments; when regulating the co-operation it is necessary to take into account laws of other states-partners, international treaties, reglaments, regulations, traditions and customs which do not exist in the Russian Federation’s system of law;

5. Language barriers which make the mutual relations complicated and involve additional expenditures to overcome such barrier;

6. Use of foreign currencies for mutual settlements and existence of certain currency exchange formalities and currency control according to the Russian law and international regulations.

This Programme differentiates Karelia’s external economic relations from international relations mainly from the point of activities and parties involved.

Thus, external economic relations include activities in areas of economy, investments, finances and technical assistance. The main parties involved into such relations are legal and private persons, financial institutions, Karelian authorities. The Government of the Republic of Karelia (hereinafter referred to as the "Government") may act as a party of the external economic relations with foreign legal & private persons and also as the authority entitled within its competence to affect and control the legal and private persons’ external economic relations in this area. International relations include mainly activities in fields of ecology, social development, culture, humanitarian relations, etc. The main parties involved into such relations are international organizations and programmes, agencies of state power and administrative-territorial entities of foreign states and also the Government and local self-administration authorities of the Republic of Karelia, public organizations, etc. At the same time both the external economic and international relations often appear as an organic whole and cannot be separated one from another.

The Government considers the international co-operation one of the most important instruments of the social and economic development of Karelia that facilitate attraction of financial resources and foreign experience for solution of different problems and creation of new working places. Today the international co-operation helps to mitigate after-effects of the transition period and economic and financial crisis and to establish favourable conditions for economic growth.

The Government’s main objective in the international co-operation is to employ it to the benefit of the Karelian people and the Republic’s social and economic development elaborating its advantages and levelling its negative impacts.