His Majesty King Abdullah II and Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, on Tuesday opened talks at Raghadan Palace on mechanisms to enhance economic and cultural cooperation in addition to development of events in the region.

During the talks, which were attended by Prince Faisal Bin Al Hussein and senior Jordanian officials as well as the delegation accompanying President Kuchma, the two sides stressed the need to take more practical steps to boost ties of cooperation particularly in economic, investment, cultural and tourist areas.

During the meeting held over a dinner banquet by His Majesty King Abdullah in honour of President Kuchma and his delegation, the two sides also agreed to form a higher joint committee led by Jordan`s National Economy Minister and Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister with the aim of regulating economic and trade relations between the two countries.

On the political area, King Abdullah and President Kuchma affirmed the necessity to back the political and diplomatic efforts designed to put an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian areas and re-launch the peace process.

The international community should shoulder its responsibility to settle the current crisis through pressuring on Israel to implement relevant international resolutions and all the agreements reached with the Palestinian side.

President Kuchma stressed the necessity for Israel to pull out from the Palestinian self rule areas and to honour Security Council resolutions. He noted the significant role of the United States to establish peace in the region.

In presence of King Abdullah and President Kuchma, two agreements were concluded: one on educational and scientific cooperation and the other on economic and trade relations.