Mainland, Taiwanese entrepreneurs to hold annual meeting

A platform for entrepreneurs from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan to meet annually and discuss cooperation was established Thursday.

An inauguration meeting for the "Cross-Strait Entrepreneurs' Summit" was held in the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing and was attended by mainland officials in charge of Taiwan affairs and economic experts.

Attendees chose Zeng Peiyan, former vice premier, to head the summit, as well as invited Zhang Zhijun, director of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, to be one of its eight advisors.

The summit will help "integrate resources across the strait, deepen cross-strait economic cooperation and maintain the peaceful development of cross-strait relations," said Zeng, who is also chairman of the mainland-based China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

The summit will become a platform for entrepreneurs on both sides to conduct exchanges and cooperation "against the international backdrop of slower economic recovery, deepened economic globalization and regional integration," he said.

The entrepreneurs' suggestions should be carefully considered, Zeng said, adding that both sides should enhance mutual investment, especially for mainland enterprises investing in Taiwan.

Companies on both sides should "go hand-in-hand to march toward the international market" by making their advantages complementary, he said.

The summit will become an annual event to be held in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province. It will be held in early November this year.

Vincent C. Siew, honorary chairman of the Taiwan-based Cross-Straits Common Market Foundation, was elected joint chairman of the platform along with Zeng.

The summit has secretariats on both sides of the strait.

The idea of holding the summit was produced after a similar summit was held last September in Jiangsu.

The summit will represent the fourth cross-strait economic cooperation platform established between both sides. The others are regular talks held between the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation, the Cross-Straits Economic, Trade and Culture Forum, and the Straits Forum.