Negotiators from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan will meet for a preliminary meeting over this weekend in Taipei to discuss details of the upcoming third round of cross-Straits talks.

A delegation led by Zheng Zhongli, deputy chief of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), will discuss with the Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) the time and location of the talks between mainland's chief negotiator Chen Yunlin and his Taiwan counterpart Chiang Pin-kung.

They would also exchange views on the schedule arrangement and the contents of agreements to be discussed by Chen and Chiang, who were expected to meet for the third time sometime in late April or early May.

Founded in 1991 and 1990 respectively, the ARATS and SEF were authorized by the mainland and Taiwan to handle cross-Straits exchanges. The two organizations agreed to meet twice a year in the mainland and Taiwan in turn, after cross-Straits negotiations resumed last June following an almost 10-year suspension.

(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2009)