Premier Wen Jiabao said on Friday the Chinese mainland and Taiwan should strengthen economic cooperation in face of the global economic crisis.

The economic ties between the mainland and Taiwan are almost "indiscerptible", and with such close ties, "We should step up cooperation to confront the financial crisis together," Wen said at a press conference after the National People's Congress concluded its annual session.

"We sincerely hope the two sides will intensify the consultation to sign a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement in an appropriate way and establish an economic cooperation mechanism conducive to both sides," Wen said.

Wen said the cooperation agreement and mechanism should fit the situation of cross-Taiwan Straits relations and meet the needs of economic cooperation and trade.

"We want to reach the goal of mutual benefits and a win-win result for both sides," he added.

According to Wen, last year, despite the financial crisis, the trade volume between the two sides reached nearly US$130 billion, with Taiwan having a surplus of US$77.8 billion. More than 30,000 Taiwan enterprises are running in the mainland with a total investment of US$47 billion.

(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2009)