A high-end seminar was held in Pingtan, East China's Fujian province, on Monday to discuss more cooperation opportunities between Pingtan and Taiwan.

The Common Homeland Forum seeks to promote characteristic industries and build a common market that benefits both sides.

More than 400 people from both the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, including a great many mainland government officials and representatives of all circles from Taiwan, attended the seminar. The event was jointly sponsored by the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland, the Office of Taiwan Affairs of the People's Government of Fujian Province and the Pingtan administrative committee.

Chen Hua, a member of the Standing Committee of Fujian province, extended a welcome to the Taiwan guests and hoped Taiwan will engage in Pingtan's economic construction and build a "common homeland" for both sides together.

Since the launch of the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone three years ago, which made it the mainland's first economic pilot zone to open up to Taiwan, Pingtan has established basic conditions for further development and will play a more important role in cross-Straits communication, she added.

Ye Kedong, deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, praised Pingtan's economic progress in the past three years, saying its innovation has achieved positive outcomes. But Pingtan cannot achieve higher performance without practical explorations by workers and theoretical research by pundits.

Pingtan, an experimental area opening up to Taiwan, has been a catalyst for improved cross-Straits relations in the past few years, said Lin Fong-cheng, vice-chairman of the Kuomintang, the ruling party in Taiwan. He added that he firmly believed in a brighter future for cross-Straits cooperation.

Entrepreneur representatives, political advisors and researchers exchanged views on further cross-Straits cooperation at the seminar.

Pingtan should cultivate more special agriculture based on its unique geographical environment and strive to become a cross-Straits agricultural production hub and tourism spot, suggests Feng Dingguo, chairman of International Integrated Systems Inc, a Taiwan-based software development and IT services provider.

Pang Chien-kuo, a former adviser to the Straits Exchange Foundation and a professor at the Chinese Culture University, proposed that Pingtan and Taiwan look for industrial projects that complement each other's advantages, and make full use of the network of Taiwan merchants in other prosperous economic zones such as the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas.

Pingtan is enjoying so many favorable policies from both central and provincial governments that it should create a freer investment and trade environment with better service, said Tang Yonghong, director of the Taiwan institute of Xiamen University.

Investment from Taiwan in Pingtan has seen rapid growth in the past three years, as the number of Taiwan-backed enterprises jumped from 4 to 123 with investment totaling $3.6 billion, statistics shows.

As of June 15, the Haixia, a high-speed passenger ferry sailing between Pingtan and Taichung in Taiwan, has helped transfer roughly 163,900 people over 510 trips since late 2011.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Micheal Thai