TAIPEI: Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou said yesterday that a proposed trade pact with the mainland will be as transparent as possible to mitigate public misgivings.

Ma said that negotiations on the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with the mainland, which will formally begin this year, will be a focus of cross-Straits exchanges, and he intends to keep the public informed.

Ma said he has asked the "Ministry of Economic Affairs" and the "Mainland Affairs Council" to make the talks transparent at every stage as long as it does not affect the progress of the talks.

Transparency will help the public understand the purpose of signing of the agreement, which is aimed at preventing Taiwan from being marginalized by a free trade block composed of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus the mainland that came into effect this year, he said.

The public will learn which sectors will benefit from the signing of the ECFA as well as the relief and assistance provided to certain sectors that will be hurt by agreement, Ma continued.

It is expected that the plastics, machinery, textile, petrochemical and steel sectors will benefit the most from the signing of the ECFA.

Ma Ying-jeou also proposed yesterday that a new and simple term be used by the relevant agencies in communicating with the public about the controversial trade agreement Taiwan hopes to sign with the mainland.

The term used so far for the proposed cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, or "ECFA", is the designation in English for the trade deal.

Since the term is just an acronym, it is not easy for the mainly Chinese-speaking Taiwanese public to figure out what it is for. Therefore, a new and simple Chinese Term "Liang An Jing Ji Xie Yi" - which means cross-Straits economic agreement - could be used to sell the trade deal with the mainland, Ma said at the weekly meeting of the ruling Kuomintang's Central Standing Committee.