The fifth Cross-Straits Economic, Trade and Culture Forum closed on Sunday with Chinese mainland and Taiwan participants agreeing to promote cultural exchanges and educational cooperation across the Taiwan Straits.

The written language used on both sides of the Straits belongs to the same system, the proposal said.

The two sides should acknowledge the commonality of their language, it said.

Scholars should cooperate in developing software to help bridge language gaps between simplified and traditional Chinese characters, it proposed.

The proposal called on cultural institutions on both sides to enhance conservation of cultural relics.

The two sides could also use cultural resources to jointly create top brand names, foster cultural market and promote culture industries, as well as set up criteria to step up intellectual property rights protection, it said.

Interaction in the broadcast, film and television sector should also be deepened and more joint projects in film and TV should be encouraged, it suggested.

In the past two days, about 530 participants, 270 from Taiwan, discussed how to inherit and innovate the Chinese culture, promote cross-Straits cultural cooperation, and extend cross-Straits educational exchanges and collaboration.

(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2009)