BEIJING - Experts from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan are expecting to conclude negotiations on a cross-Straits investment protection agreement this year, a mainland spokesman said Wednesday.

Efforts were being made to ensure the agreement be signed during the meeting of the heads of the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), said Yang Yi, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office.

The seventh-round meeting of heads of ARATS and SEF is scheduled to be held this year, but no exact date has been disclosed.

In an earlier interview with Xinhua, Xu Mang, director of the economy bureau of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said the mainland hoped to reach a mutually beneficial agreement with Taiwan on the issue at an early date, with the concerns of both sides respected.

Xu said the two sides should adhere to the principle of balance in negotiations, aiming for effective protection, fewer restrictions and more convenience for cross-Strait investment.

On Tuesday, the mainland and Taiwan negotiators in the first meeting of the cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Committee (ECC) in Taiwan announced the start of negotiations on agreements concerning trade in goods and services and a mechanism for settling disputes.

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This came just months after the mainland and Taiwan signed the landmark Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in June 2010.

The first step in implementing the ECFA, the "early harvest program," took effect on January 1, when the mainland reduced tariffs on 539 Taiwanese items, or 16 percent of imports from Taiwan, while Taiwan cut duties on 267 mainland items, 10 percent of imports from the mainland.

Within two years, the duties on those products will be reduced to zero.

Statistics from Taiwan showed that driven by the tariff reduction, the island's small and medium-sized enterprise export trade volume to the mainland would increase to $18 billion per year.

Cross-Straits trade volume totaled $145.37 billion last year, a rise of 36.9 percent year on year. The figure included $115.69 billion of Taiwan exports to the mainland, up 20.2 percent.