Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has met with his Slovak counterpart Andrej Kiska on the sidelines of the UN World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, where the sides exchanged views important bilateral relations and international cooperation.

"They also discussed issues related to the creation of an East European gas hub with the participation of other countries in the region," the Ukrainian presidential press service said on Monday.

"The two leaders emphasized the two countries' algorithm of interaction in the direction of European integration in the context of Slovakia's EU presidency in the second half of 2016," it said.

"The point at issue was, in particular, practical assistance by the Slovak side in reforming the Ukrainian economy, as well as Slovakia's support of decisions by the EU's governing agencies on visa-free travel for citizens of Ukraine," it said.

What is more, Poroshenko and Kiska considered ways to enhance trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. "In this regard, they noted the importance of this year's scheduled meeting of the intergovernmental Ukrainian-Slovak commission on economic, industrial, research and engineering cooperation," the press service said.

The Ukrainian president also thanked the Slovak leader for backing Ukraine's position on inadmissibility of the North Stream 2 project.