"Remarkable progress has been made in talks on the delineation of maritime borders in the Barents Sea," Sergei Lavrov told a news conference after a meeting with his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Stoere.
According to Lavrov, the ministers also discussed a wide range of issues including energy projects, the fishing industry and nongovernmental organizations (NGO).
"We discussed all aspects of cooperation in the Barents Sea, including the delineation of maritime borders and cooperation between the countries' oil-and-gas companies and agencies in the fishing sector."
When asked about cooperation between the foreign ministry and NGOs, Lavrov said that he had recently held a meeting with representatives from Russian NGOs and met with foreign NGOs during his trips abroad. "This is helpful for a better understanding of what is going on in a certain country."
Against the background of recent controversy over Russia's new NGO law, which was passed by the Russian parliament in late December and has stirred up harsh criticism from the West, Lavrov said the ministers had discussed the issue, adding that Russia's NGO legislation was not tougher in comparison with similar regulations passed by the world's leading democracies, including the United States, France and Israel.
The minister said the issue would also be discussed with Terry Davis, the secretary general of the Council of Europe, who is expected to visit Moscow in the next few days.
