Kyiv, June 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) - In Lisbon President Victor Yuschenko met with President of the Assembly of the Republic (the Portuguese Parliament) Jaime Gama and members of the parties represented in the parliament.

"We believe the inter-parliamentary contacts are an important part of the relations between the two states," Yuschenko said at a meeting in Portugal on Monday.

He added that Ukraine welcomes the formation of Ukrainian-Portuguese parliamentary groups of friendship and called on them to step up cooperation.

He said that Ukraine pays special attention to the development of trade and investment relations with Portugal. "We are satisfied with the tendencies of the stable growth of the volumes of bilateral trade and investments over the last two years," he said reminding that last year the volume of bilateral trade in goods and services reached $146 million (75% growth from 2006), whereas in the first quarter of 2008 made $19.5 million.

Yuschenko thanked Portugal authorities for their good treatment of Ukrainians living in the country. Ukraine is planning to make every effort to return its citizens, but at present they need to be socially protected. In this connection, Yuschenko noted that Ukraine and Portugal need to conclude an agreement about social security as soon as possible.

Besides, the officials discussed the issue of commemoration of the Famine of 1932-1933, European and Euro-Atlantic prospects of Ukraine etc.

Speaking about Ukraine's aspirations to get the EU and NATO membership Yuschenko thanked Portugal for its continuous support of Ukraine.

In his turn, the Portuguese speaker assured the Ukrainian president that Ukraine will undoubtedly become a member of European and Euro-Atlantic structures.