国内英语新闻:Mainland-Taiwan economic agreement will benefit both: official

BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- An Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) could make the Chinese mainland and Taiwan complement each other and achieve the best win-win results, Yao Jian, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), said here Monday.

    "The ECFA could enhance the well-being of the people across the Taiwan Straits," Yao said in a statement on the ministry's website.

    He added that with increasingly strengthened cross-Straits economic cooperation, the signing of the ECFA should be in line with the development of the cross-Straits relationship and the characteristics of the mainland-Taiwan economic and trade cooperation.

    The ECFA would help reduce trade barriers gradually and bring positive effects to the economies, trade and most industries across the Straits, according to a latest research report completed by the academy of international trade and economic cooperation under the MOC.

    Official figures revealed that the combined cross-Straits trade volume stood at 129.22 billion U.S. dollars in 2008.