TAIPEI - The first meeting of the cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Committee (ECC) opened Tuesday in Taiwan's Taoyuan county.

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It was decided during the meeting to establish six working groups, including those on trade in goods, trade in services, dispute settlement, investment, industrial cooperation and custom cooperation, according to a statement released after the meeting.

Behind closed doors, the day-long meeting was co-convened by Zheng Lizhong, head of the 36-member Chinese mainland delegation and vice president of the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) vice chairman Kao Koong-lian.

The ECC was established last month under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) signed between the mainland and Taiwan in June 2010. Jointly set up by the SEF and the ARATS, it handles issues concerning the ECFA which aims at boosting cross-Straits trade.

The meeting reviewed and evaluated the effect of the ECFA' s  "early harvest"  program from Jan 1, saying the program proceeded "smoothly"  with tangible results. Further, the two sides exchanged their experiences on the implementation of the program.

The ECC also announced the start of negotiations on agreements concerning trade in goods and services and a cross-straits mechanism for settling disputes. Meanwhile, it praised the progresses made in negotiations on a cross-Straits investment protection agreement, which was expected to be signed during the first half of this year.

At the meeting, the two sides also agreed to assist industrial groups in setting up offices on the other side via the platform of the ECC.

"The ECC, as an important platform under the cross-Straits institutionalized negotiation mechanism, will definitely play a key role in deepening trade and promoting economic relations between the two sides,"  the statement said, adding that the second meeting will be held in six months.

Jiang Zengwei, the mainland's Vice Commerce Minister, and Francis Liang, the island's senior economic official, chaired the meeting as the top representatives for both sides.

Zheng said the ECC and its working groups should complete ECFA-related follow-up negotiations "as soon as possible," and both sides should sign agreements, as long as negotiations were completed.

He said with the unfolding of the follow-up negotiations and the implementation of the ECFA "early harvest" program, trade would be expanded and industrial competitiveness on both sides enhanced.

The first ECC meeting was "another historic moment in the development of cross-Straits relations," and it would promote economic development on both sides, as well as free and normalization of economic cooperation, he said.

Zheng said that "actively promoting the implementation of the ECFA" was enshrined in the mainland's proposal for formulating the 12th five-year program on economic and social development (2011-2015), which would definitely "improve the environment for Taiwan's economic growth and create huge opportunities for Taiwanese business people investing on the mainland."

Kao said both sides paid great attention to the ECC meeting and both should be sincere and work hard to ensure the ECFA benefit people on both sides.

The meeting, which was the first of its kind, attracted hundreds of reporters from the island, the mainland and overseas media organizations.

ARATS president Chen Yunlin will arrive in Taiwan Wednesday for a six-day visit to learn about the island's agricultural sector.