The Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Committee convened its first meeting yesterday in Taoyuan County, with the main focus placed on reviewing the preliminary results of the ECFA early harvest program. And negotiations would also be held on bilateral trade in goods and services, as well as on dispute settlement. But discussion on the highly-anticipated issue of cross-strait investment protection is not listed on the official agenda this time.

The handshaking marked the official beginning of the first meeting of the Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Committee.

Our delegation is led by vice SEF chairman Kao Koong-lian.

The delegation of Mainland China is led by vice president of ARATS Zheng Li-zhong.

Each delegation has 14 negotiators.

And the focus of the meeting is to examine the execution of early harvest list of the ECFA, set up working groups, and launch a following negotiation mechanism for merchandise and service disputes.

Due to the complex nature, the highly anticipated cross-strait investment protection agreement would not be included in the agenda.

According to the SEF, since last September, six banks from Taiwan have set up branch offices in China while three Chinese banks have launched their offices in Taiwan.

The cross-strait investment protection agreement has been an ongoing issue and is hoped to be finalized before the 7th Chiang-Chen meeting.

Responding to worries of overdependence on the Chinese market, Kao Koong-lian believes that Taiwan is also strengthening its trade partnership with many other countries.

Vice president of ARATS Zheng Li-zhong says that ECFA is listed as one of the key projects in China, in the hope of creating more business opportunities for the two sides.

To facilitate the meeting, the security on the 22nd is tightened.

SEF urges the public to see the trade visit from Mainland China in a rational manner since ARATS chairman Chen Yun-lin is to visit on the 23rd.

When the meeting concludes at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, representatives from both delegations would hold press conferences separately to explain the results of the meeting.

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