2010-09-15 11:26

TAIPEI - A delegation from northwest China's Shaanxi province secured investment and trade agreements worth $610 million with Taiwan businesses here Tuesday.

Acting Shaanxi governor Zhao Zhengyong said he was expecting $800 million in agreements during the delegation's seven-day visit to the island.

The agreements were signed at the start of Taiwan-Shaanxi Week, a trade and cultural exchange event that kicked off Tuesday.

Among them, purchase deals reached $57.02 million, involving Shaanxi companies buying raw industrial materials, electronic products, and alcoholic drinks from their Taiwan counterparts. Also, cooperation framework agreements signed during the event were valued at $510 million.

Further, 23 companies from Shaanxi expressed their intention to purchase $47.59 million in goods from Taiwan companies, according to a statement from the provincial government, following negotiations at the event on Tuesday.

The two sides are expected to reach agreements worth $800 million during the week, said Zhao Zhengyong at the opening ceremony.

Zhao, leading a delegation of more than 500 people, arrived in Taipei Monday for a seven-day visit. The delegation was the first mainland delegation since the landmark cross-Straits economic pact Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) took effect last Sunday.

Zhao called on Taiwan companies, which used to invest mainly in southern and coastal cities on the mainland, to invest more in inland provinces such as Shaanxi, as the central government has set down favorable policies on the development of the country's western region, in addition to the business opportunities brought about by the ECFA.

There are more than 750 Taiwan-funded companies in Shaanxi, as of the end of 2008. And Taiwan is Shaanxi's second largest overseas investor, with the total contract investment between the two sides worth $1.93 billion, the provincial government's statistics showed.

Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), which handles cross-Straits affairs on behalf of the Taiwan authority, said at the opening ceremony of the Taiwan-Shaanxi Week that the ECFA offers a good opportunity for Taiwan-funded companies to upgrade their development mode.

Many Taiwan business people are moving their companies from the southern mainland to the north, and from the east to the west, he said.

He added that he believes Shaanxi will play a more important role in economic and trade exchanges across the Taiwan Straits.

Wu Poh-hsiung, honorary chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) Party, said when he met Zhao Tuesday that "Economic cooperation could make each other walk hand in hand, and cultural exchanges could link each other by the heart."

"Shaanxi can bridge the two sides in terms of economic cooperation and cultural exchanges," he said.

A string of mainland delegations have visited Taiwan since last year, most of which having reached purchase agreements with Taiwan businesses amid improving economic ties.

Mainland delegations reached purchase deals worth $18 billion with Taiwan companies last year, and the agreements signed so far this year reached $20 billion, according to Wang Chih-kang, chairman of the Taipei World Trade Center.