Foreign Ministery Konstantyn Hryschenko on Aug. 25 said ties between Ukraine and Syria hold great potential. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryschenko said he sees great prospects for development of Ukrainian-Syrian cooperation during a briefing after a meeting with his Syrian colleague Walid al Muallem in Kyiv on Wednesday.

"Syria is a very important country in its region for us," Hryschenko said, and added that Syria was one of the first countries to acknowledge the independence of Ukraine, and is one of the largest trade partners of Ukraine in the region.

In particular, the minister said that in 2008 trade between Ukraine and Syria was worth more than $1 billion.

According to Hryschenko, during the world financial crisis the level of trade considerably dropped, but today it has started growing again.

In turn, Muallem expressed hope for strengthening of bilateral relations in all spheres and substantial increase of trade between the states.

"I would like to take this opportunity to invite my colleague, Ukrainian foreign minister, to visit Syria at his convenience," he said.

The Ukrainian foreign minister emphasized that they did not tackle the issue of cooperation in the sphere of the arms trade during the talks.

"We didn't discuss these issues. We discussed the situation in the Middle East and the possibility of resuming the peace process," Hryschenko said.