MAANSHAN: The 4th Maanshan Electronic Expo, a three-day gala drawing representatives from 200 firms in Taiwan and delegates from 26 mainland enterprises along with numerous visitors, ended here on Nov. 1. Trade deals worth 21.9 billion yuan ($3.4) inked and voices calling for maintaining the overall development of stable relations across the Taiwan Straits is encouraging.

Jiang Yaoping, vice president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, delivers a speech at the opening ceremony. [Qin Dachun/For China Daily]

Speaking at the opening ceremony on Oct. 30, Jiang Yaoping --- vice president of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits --- called on entrepreneurs from both sides to cooperate closely in a bid to better tap the world market.

He encouraged Taiwan business people to join hands with their counterparts on the mainland to help maintain the overall stable development of relations across the Straits and make contributions to new progress in cross-Straits ties.

Zhang Yong, chief of the Taiwan Affairs Office of Anhui Provincial Government, read an official letter dated Oct 27 from the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, authorizing Anhui to establish a cross-Straits industrial restructuring and transfer demonstration base in Maanshan, which sits on both banks of the Yangtze River and is one of the top 10 harbors along the Yangtze.