Experts attending the cross-strait agricultural produce trade symposium here Monday agreed that the close geological position, same consuming customs and the mutually complementary resources and trade will bring a bright future to the agricultural cooperation between Taiwan and the mainland.

Professor Lu Yun from Taiwan University's agricultural economy department said the cross-strait agricultural trade cooperation has developed well during the past years and "the developing orientation of this sort of cooperation will be more definite and clearer after both Taiwan and Chinese mainland entered the World Trade Organization (WTO)."

The cross-strait agricultural cooperation will be booming and deepened in the future, said the professor.

Yu Xubo, president of China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (CNCOFC), said it is reasonable and feasible to expand the cross-strait agricultural produce trade.

He said the Chinese mainland will follow its commitments to the WTO to further open its market to Taiwan and reduce tariffs, which will turn a new page in the history of the cross-strait agricultural market opening and industrial cooperation.

As a matter of fact, the cross-strait agricultural trade and cooperation have already accelerated in the recent years.

According to the statistics from the Taiwan agricultural products export network, Taiwan exported 290 million US dollars agricultural products to the mainland in 2004, nearly five times more than that in 2001.

On the other hand, the cooperation is also expanding from the original planting and breeding to the intensive processing of the agricultural products and the related logistics and e-commerce, said Yu.

The CNCOFC has established a China Food Website together with the Taiwan-based Dachan Greatwall Group, providing agricultural information to many institutions and companies both in Taiwan and the mainland.

Yet experts also say that there still exist some unsolved key problems hindering Taiwan's agricultural products to completely enter the mainland market.

The cross-strait agricultural departments still lack effective information communication and the transportation takes quite a long time and is costly, said Xiu Wenqun from Qinghua University.

Besides, some technical problems concerning quarantine still remain unsolved and the some agricultural products could not be sold in short time in the mainland, which brings pressures to the Taiwanese companies, Xiu said.

He suggested the mainland should build a bigger platform and open a wider channel to welcome the Taiwan agricultural products and encourage the direct communication between the cross-strait farmers.

Xu Xinliang, chairman of the cross-strait association of agricultural exchanges, said Taiwan's industrial and commercial circles "have created many miracles in the mainland during the past years."

Comparatively speaking, Taiwan's agriculture did not receive more help.

However, Xu said, he is very optimistic about the future of thecross-strait agricultural cooperation.

"Taiwan's agriculture will not only be accepted by the mainland, but will also become a powerful force in the international market," Xu said.

Source: Xinhua