ANKARA (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Abdullah Gul said that Ankara supports for Ukraine's bid to join the NATO.

Gul voiced the stance at a joint press conference with his visiting Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
""Turkey supports the Ukraine's steps to integrate with NATO and it promotes efforts for reconciliation for that end,"" Gul told the reporters.
He said that Turkey included in 2003 Ukraine on its list of countries with priority in diplomatic relations, hailing that bilateral relations had improved significantly since then.
For his part, Yushchenko said that his country might grant visa exemption to certain groups from Turkey, including journalists, students and businessmen, adding both sides desired to apply full visa exemption in the future.
Yushchenko said Turkey and Ukraine had a comprehensive economic cooperation as the bilateral trade between the two countries improved remarkably in recent years.
Ukraine hopes to hold talks for the signing of a free trade agreement with Turkey, adding that cooperation on space research and issues related to security were on the agenda of his meeting with Gul.