Turkish PM meets Ukraine's President

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych in Kiev, Anadolu reported.

Erdogan signed a joint declaration following a meeting of Turkey-Ukraine High Level Strategic Council which he co-chaired with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and later attended a joint press conference with the Ukrainian leader in Kiev.

Speaking at the joint press conference, Erdogan underlined that they favored integration with Ukraine in economic and all other possible fields as much as possible.
"The progress we can make in this direction will make contributions to our plans of offering a better future to our peoples," Erdogan stressed.

Also speaking at the press conference, President Yanukovych said that a second meeting of the Turkey-Ukraine High Level Strategic Council took place on Thursday.
"The high level representation at the meeting was an indication of the importance attached to the development of the relations between Turkey and Ukraine," Yanukovych stated.
"No doubt, a joint step taken which was welcomed with happiness was facilitating easier visas. I am confident that developing opportunities for mutual visits and increasing numbers of business trips will contribute to our bilateral tourism and would bring our peoples closer to each other," Yanukovych stressed.

We want to develop cooperation with Turkey in diverse fields, including carrying energy sources, defense industry, space and science, Yanukovych noted.

Turkish-Ukrainian trade volume stands at 6.5 billion USD. The two countries aim to have a trade volume of 20 billion USD by 2015.