The importance of this research stems from the need to ensure the sustainability of cross-border cooperation through a better understanding of its determinants and causal relationships. While having common features and patterns, cross-border cooperation is always expressed through the relations of specific countries and peoples. Therefore, based upon the PLS-SEM methodology, the authors consider the fundamental factors influencing the external cooperation of Hungary’s transboundary regions. The advantage of the PLS-SEM method is that it enables researchers to simultaneously identify and approximate hidden connections between input data and to construct a regression model describing the relationship between input data. Despite widespread application in economic studies, the authors have not found the use of PLS-SEM for studying cross-border cooperation issues in the current scientific literature. The authors have built a model to assess the hidden factors of cross-border cooperation and to identify the indirect influence of certain factors. The novelty of the research is to identify the determinants of sustainable cross-border cooperation and the relationship between them in a multi-level system of cross-border interaction between businesses, people, and the State. In the Hungarian context, transport infrastructure and business travel are shown to have a direct positive impact on cross-border cooperation. For the first time, tourism and socio-economic conditions have been shown to have powerful but indirect impacts. This work could be the beginning of gathering new evidence on the determinants and causation of cross-border cooperation in the context of other countries. An important finding of the study is the growing importance of indicators of the new, post-industrial economy. As for recommendations, the authors focus on state, regional, and municipal support measures, awareness of the possibilities of cross-border cooperation, the need to develop e-commerce, and alternative energy as a modern basis for converting Hungary’s cross-border position into a competitive advantage.

With the adoption of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), the world has recognized the need to move to responsible governance in many areas of life, including seaports, which are at the forefront of economic activity and environmental safety. The present paper examines the challenges and opportunities associated with the implementation of sustainable development principles under the free port scheme. The authors analyzed the Russian Audit Chamber report on the activities of the free port of Vladivostok and compared it with the pioneer experience of the sustainable development of the port of Antwerp. The results show that focusing only on the economic and social objectives of preferential treatment is not sufficient for the effective management of coastal areas, such as ports. To improve management efficiency and fully integrate the coastal area with preferential treatment in the world economic relations, the authors consider it necessary to ensure commitment to the goals of sustainable development and propose a model for the implementation of the sustainable development principles, as exemplified by the free port of Vladivostok.

Achieving technological sovereignty is the most important strategic task to ensure the sustainability of the Russian economy at the present stage. The sanctions imposed against Russia significantly affect the possibility of replenishing fixed assets with the best samples of foreign equipment. The federal structure of the country determines the high importance of the regions in achieving the technological sovereignty of the country. Therefore, the topic of ensuring technological sovereignty seems very timely. The article examines technological sovereignty as a tool for ensuring the sustainable development of the region's economy under sanctions. To do this, an analysis of imports was carried out on the example of the Samara region, showing the «bottlenecks» of fixed assets in the sectoral context. The author shows the expediency of a differentiated approach to the policy of ensuring technological sovereignty. Two types of technological sovereignty policy are proposed. The first type has an adaptive character and is aimed at ensuring economic security and maintaining the technological level of production. The second type of technological sovereignty policy is designed to create promising foundations for international competitiveness in the production of equipment and products. It is shown that the Russian Government, by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 603 dated 04/15/2023, lays an important organizational and preferential basis for the practical implementation of projects to ensure technological sovereignty in the Russian regions. It is concluded that innovation clusters are an important advantage for regions in ensuring technological sovereignty. It is noted that world-class scientific and educational centers can be of strategic importance, since a powerful potential of competencies in key branches of science, technology, and economics has been created on their basis.

This study examines the potential of grain trade within the context of global commerce, highlighting its role as a primary component of the worldwide agricultural market and a crucial factor in ensuring global food security and price stability. To achieve the research objectives, we utilized panel data from Russia, a leading player in the grain market, and employed a gravity model along with Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood (PPML) to analyze the impact of demand factors and the economic openness of importing countries, as well as the effects of distance, sea access, borders, language, trade unions, and tariffs on exports. Our research challenges the notion that an increase in the wealth of countries leads to a corresponding rise in trade between them. In the case of grain, evidence indicates a negative contribution of GDP per capita in importing countries. The gravity model and PPML enabled us to assess individual country effects and quantitatively evaluate the potential for increasing Russian grain exports to Asian and African nations. We propose recommendations for enhancing domestic grain production and improving the effectiveness of marketing strategies in countries with underutilized export potential.

The instability of the geopolitical situation and the sanctions crisis are expediting the study of border regions, especially those that have the status of border geostrategic territories and are particularly important for ensuring the territorial integrity and security of the country. The authors presented an analysis of the state of border geostrategic territories in new conditions, identified risks of their further development. The authors have grouped 12 statistical indicators into employment, living standards, fiscal security and economic groups. A comparison between 2021 and 2022 revealed a high differentiation in adaptive capacity between the western and eastern regions. The degree of adaptation of border geostrategic territories is influenced by the structure of the economy, the share of exporting industries, distance from western borders. The risks of decrease of income from income tax on profit, exhaustion of potential of unemployed population have been allocated. The authors identified the risk of further decline of socio-economic potential in some border regions of the western part of the country. The assessment showed that the largest decline was in the regions where the automobile industry, metal production and certain types of chemical products play a significant role in the structure of the economy. However, domestic car production is successfully restored. The prospects for adapting the economies of exporting regions will depend on eastward supply. The authors note that the border geostrategic regions of the eastern part of the country as a whole have successfully adapted to the new conditions and have good prospects for improving regional competitiveness through the increase of commodity flows in the East Asian direction. At the same time, the risks of differentiating the eastern and western geostrategic border areas are increasing.

Subject. The article analyzes the mesodynamics of economic sectors in Russian regions. Objectives. The aim of the study is to undertake quantitative and qualitative monitoring of the components' evolution in twelve basic economic sectors from 2005 to 2017, to describe the regions' homogeneity, stability and balance, and their prospects for investment. Methods. We employ methods of identification, lowess smoothing, and the bootstrap approach to identify models of mesodynamics on 30–50-value samples, without a priori knowledge about the stochastic component distribution law. Results. The findings confirmed the possibility and adequacy of the econophysics paradigm for mesodynamic analysis. We justified and tested methods for general mesodynamic models' identification, using the R programming language. Conclusions. The offered methodology and tools will enable to develop a knowledge base for fundamental laws of mesodynamics. They will also help reveal spatial and temporal features of cyclical development of Russian regions; assess the level of balance and sustainability of regional development in the medium term period; group the regions by their cycle length and define the most promising ones for investment.