Turkish Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan, who is currently in Ukraine upon invitation by Parliament Speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk, met Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko in Kiev on Friday.

Toptan said Turkey has been following Ukraine's development initiative with great appreciation.

"Turkish businessmen are glad to work here (Ukraine). I would like to thank Tymoshenko for her assistance," he said.

Tymoshenko stated that she expected that Turkey's premier would pay a visit to Ukraine this year.

Turkey and Ukraine benefited from the cooperation between the two countries and this cooperation also served the world and the region, she said.

Heads of the two states were eager to rise trade volume to 10 billion USD by 2010 and she believed Turkey and Ukraine would reach this goal, Tymoshenko said.

Also, Toptan met on Thursday members of a Turkish-Ukrainian inter-parliamentary friendship group.

Speaking at the meeting, Toptan said relations between Turkey and Ukraine stood on a strong political will, which he said showed itself on international and economic levels.

"I hope that relations between our respective parliaments will be much more strengthened during by term," Toptan said.


AA