Mainland companies urged to invest in Taiwan

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Play VideoMeasures announced to boost cross-strait economic ties

The mainland will urge businesses to visit Taiwan to discuss investment plans amid efforts to help the island cope with the global economic downturn, the mainland's Taiwan affairs director Wang Yi said Sunday.

The Commerce Ministry and Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council will jointly issue a circular on procedures for mainland businesses should they intend to invest in Taiwan, Wang said.

Two purchasing groups will visit Taiwan this year to buy fruits, vegetables, aquatic products and processed farm products. Three more trips will be organized in May, June and July to buy consumer goods, food and craft products.

Other policies to emerge from the forum included encouraging Taiwan businesses to expand their markets on the mainland, pushing forward with the signing of an economic cooperation agreement, allowing Taiwan law firms to open branches in Fuzhou and Xiamen cities, beefing up agricultural cooperation across the Straits, opening up 11 more spheres of professional qualification tests to Taiwan residents and encouraging 600,000 mainland citizens to visit Taiwan this year.

In Taiwan, Deng Chen-Chung, the island's "deputy minister of Economic Affairs", said the policies could further the negotiation and signing of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), a framework Taiwan has wanted for a long time so it can cut tariffs and expand trade with the mainland.

"It's a pretty good thing," the island's Central News Agency (CNA) quoted Deng as saying.

He also said both sides of the Straits had been preparing for negotiations for the ECFA, the Taiwan-based media reported.

The proposed ECFA would be "similar to a free trade agreement between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits", the island-based China Post paper explained.