Professionals from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan held a symposium in Taipei Wednesday to discuss stabilizing the economy with further cross-Straits financial cooperation.

The symposium was held by the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) against the backdrop of an international financial crisis and struggling world economy.

ARATS president Chen Yunlin said there was no clear answer as to how serious the impact of the financial crisis would be and how long it would last. He did say both the mainland and Taiwan have an abundant foreign exchange reserve and fairly good real-economies.

"I have full reason to believe that the two sides would overcome the difficulty and have better economic prospects...as long as they join hands to find solutions and help each other," he said.

Chen was in Taiwan for a five-day historic visit at the invitation of the SEF which marks the first ever talks between ARATS and SEF leaders on the island.

On Tuesday, Chen and SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung held talks and signed four agreements on direct shipping and flights, postal services and food safety.

Chiang said earlier that cooperation in the financial sector will be one of the key topics for ARATS and SEF leaders next year. Preparation for those talks likely happened at Wednesday's symposium.

Participants from the mainland included Industrial and Commercial Bank of China President Yang Kaisheng, Bank of China President Li Lihui and representatives from the People's Bank of China and mainland's banking, securities and insurance regulatory commissions, according to the China News Service.

The ARATS and the SEF also held a symposium on industry and shipping Wednesday morning.

(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2008)