TAIPEI, June 28 (Xinhua) -- A delegation of Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), headed by chairman Chiang Pin-kung, left Taipei for southwest China's Chongqing municipality Monday, to attend the latest round of cross-Strait talks.
The mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and the SEF are expected to sign the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and an agreement on intellectual property protection at the talks on Tuesday.
The most comprehensive, complicated and time-consuming cross-Strait agreement ever, the ECFA would bring "mutual trust and benefit" to cross-Strait relations, said Chiang, at a press conference before his departure.
"We expect the agreement to give Taiwan a new chance to restructure its economy."
The ECFA would help Taiwan boost exports, attract more investment and promote employment, he said.
The two sides would also discuss the agenda for the next round of talks, including commodity trade and service trade agreements, to be signed after the ECFA, as well as protection of Taiwan investors' rights on the mainland, he said.
The Taiwan negotiators are supposed to arrive in Chongqing at noon. On Monday afternoon, SEF vice chairman Kao Koong-lian will have a preparatory meeting with ARATS vice president Zheng Lizhong.
The ARATS and SEF have held three rounds of expert-level talks on the ECFA since January. The two sides had fixed the details of the two pacts at a preparatory consultation in Taipei on June 24.
