OREANDA-NEWS. June 14, 2012. Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko finds it necessary that the European Union (EU) and the Eurasian Economic Union should merge their potentials.

“Belarus is not Europe’s periphery. It is its gateway to EuroAsia, the key to practical implementation of the idea of universal integration,” President Lukashenko said during at festive gathering to celebrate the 1150th anniversary of Polotsk.

As reported by the president’s press-service, bringing together the European and Eurasian potentials will unlock new opportunities for dynamic development and all-round cooperation between countries and nations of the two continents.

“It is in promoting this idea that we see a critical mission and the geopolitical role of our state as a linking bridge,” Lukashenko said.

Lukashenko believes that every European should visit Polotsk, “which the geographical center of Europe”. In Polotsk, where for more than a thousand years the cultures of East and West got intertwined, one can feel the common origins and traditions.