Cross-Strait agricultural cooperation forum opens

The Chinese mainland and Taiwan opened a forum Tuesday to boost agricultural cooperation and promote peace and development across the Taiwan Straits.

The forum, held in Boao in the southernmost island province of Hainan, will present a "bright outlook" for cross-strait agricultural development and common prosperity, said Chen Yunlin, director of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

"The mainland and Taiwan have made concerted efforts over the past two decades to keep expanding cooperation in the agricultural sector," Chen told the forum that opened at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday.

He said such cooperation has started to benefit both sides of the straits but still has immense potentials for further expansion.

The forum, hosted by the CPC and the Chinese Kuomintang, is designed to provide a platform for the two sides to explore solutions to their practical problems and seek more rational allocation of their agricultural resources so as to supplement each other and expand cooperation.

The forum also sees the presence of Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, and Chinese Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Lien Chan.

Source: Xinhua