Taiwan and China are scheduled to resume negotiations on a trade in goods agreement at the end of this month.
Deputy Economics Minister Cho Shih-chao made the announcement on Friday. He said the two sides would try to catch up with the progress China and South Korea made in reaching a free trade agreement (FTA). The China-South Korea FTA is expected to be signed by the end of this year. Cho said he hopes negotiations with China can also be completed by around the same time.
If a cross-strait trade in goods agreement is passed, China-based Taiwanese companies will be able to buy raw materials from Taiwan at lower prices, thus lowering their production costs and boosting their competitiveness. End-products from Taiwan will also become more competitive in the Chinese market because of lower tariffs.
The pact will cover over 10,000 categories of goods. The next round of negotiations on the pact, ten months apart from the previous one, is expected to take place in northern Taiwan.
The pact is part of a series of follow-up agreements under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) that the two sides signed in 2010 to liberalize bilateral trade.