A produce marketing delegation from Kaohsiung visited the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone on Oct 15. Gong Qinggai, director of Pingtan's administrative committee, welcomed the delegation.

Gong gave a briefing on the opening-up and development of Pingtan. He said the direct transportation between Pingtan and Taiwan considerably reduced the cost of cross-Straits exchanges. The advantage will attract more Taiwan enterprises to invest in Pingtan, helping develop Pingtan into the mainland's major collecting and distribution center for Taiwan products.

Pingtan has been improving its infrastructure for the past three years. The pilot zone is constructing ports and docks, bonded warehouses, markets for small-scale trade between Taiwan and Pingtan, fruit wholesale markets, fisherman's wharfs on both sides of the Straits, and other facilities for cross-Straits industrial development.

Kaohsiung took interest in Pingtan's favorable investment environment. The city will make use of these agriculture and fishery advantages to open up cross-Straits sales channels and facilitate cooperation between agricultural departments on both sides.

Kaohsiung possesses 52,000 hectares of arable land, 65,000 hectares of hilly land, 120,000 hectares of forestland, and 220,000 farmers, according to the delegation. The delegation hopes deep cooperation between the two sides will yield mutually beneficial results.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Michael Thai