The Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Kuomintang (KMT) Party of China have agreed to build a platform to promote peaceful development and cross-Straits exchanges in economic, trade and cultural sectors, said visiting KMT leader Lien Chan on Monday.

"The establishment of such a platform, which focuses on the two most important issues -- peace and economic and trade exchanges, is of vital importance, as currently there's still no sign of official contacts between the two sides across the Straits," Lien told a press conference in Shanghai.

He said the proposed platform would include two forums, one on peaceful development and the other on economic, trade and cultural exchanges.

The two forums are intended to help facilitate exchange of ideas across the Straits and reflect the consensus reached between the CPC and KMT, he said.

Lien said that participants of the two forums are not to be limited to officials of the two parties only. "Other relevant people can be invited to the forums as well," he said at the press conference, held before a planned meeting with Wang Daohan, president of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS).

A press communique signed between leaders of the CPC and KMT in Beijing on Friday says the two parties have agreed to build a platform for regular party-to-party communications between their officials at different levels. 

(Xinhua News Agency May 2, 2005)