OREANDA-NEWS. January 4, 2011. The Eurasian Union is going beyond economic integration and toward political and military integration, President Alexander Lukashenko said following a meeting of the Interstate Council of the EurAsEC and Customs Union Commission on Thursday.

He said the package of documents establishing the Common Economic Area was the foundation of the Eurasian Union. According to Lukashenko, the three countries – Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan – coordinated their efforts in foreign policy, in the Collective Security Treaty Organization and “military security issues”, as well as “all economic directions.”

It is the European Union that should “worry about building its relations with the Eurasian Union”, with its market of 170 million people, Lukashenko stated.

Lukashenko said the European Union should think about ways to approach the Eurasian Union, as it is a “two-way street.”

“We will definitely be stronger. They only respect power, and Belarus will only get more powerful as part of the Union.” “Therefore, if we keep moving at this pace and resolving all moot points, they will come to us and offer cooperation and think how to establish contacts with us,” Lukashenko said.

According to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the Customs Union will consider applications from the European Union or its separate members for membership in the Common Economic Area.

“We will at least consider applications from EU members, or a collective application from the EU,” he said.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev added that Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia did not give up the idea of joint accession to the World Trade Organization.