The festival Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk is an immensely important event for the integration of brotherly Slavonic and not only nations, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said at an opening ceremony of the 22^nd International Festival of Arts Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk.

Today Slavonic Bazaar is one of the spiritual catalysts of the integration processes in the countries of the former Soviet Union and even wider, in the Eurasian space. It occupies a special place among other international arts forums and has a full right to bear a title of “the festival of the festivals” representing a wide range of achievements of the global culture.

The festival gets tens and hundreds new friends every year. This is a meeting place for the winners of Eurovision, New Wave, San Remo and other festivals proving an old maxim that the language of songs is a language of friendship which one can understand without translation.

 The head of state expressed hope that the scale, creative variety and bright interweavement of languages and cultures at Slavonic Bazaar will help make a significant contribution to the augmentation of spiritual richness and preserve original national cultures.