The Fourth Yunnan-Taiwan Expo kicked off in the "Spring City" of Kunming in Yunnan province on June 10. More than 700 entrepreneurs, businessmen and government officials from Taiwan and Yunnan attended the event.

At the opening ceremony, Xiao Wanzhang, honorary chairman of the Taiwan-Mainland Common Market Foundation said the two sides had made "great achievements" in trade exchanges. Xiao said the number of Taiwan people who travelled to Yunnan in 2014 exceeded 600,000 and mentioned that there were 18 direct flights operating between Taiwan and Yunnan each week.

Xiao also pointed out that economy was the major focus of cooperation between Taiwan and the mainland. He suggested that the two sides should promote an economic cooperation model in terms of strategy, scope and method.

The Yunnan-Taiwan Expo began in 2012 and has been held subsequently every year since. The aim of the expo is to increase the cooperation between Taiwan and the mainland and expand the South Asian market shares of the two sides.

This year's event runs for six days, during which 26 cooperation projects will be signed, covering the fields of new energy, e-commerce, agriculture and biomedicine and involving 7 billion yuan ($ 1.13 billion).

Taiwan businessmen promote their products at the Fourth Yunnan-Taiwan Expo in Kunming city, Yunnan province, on June 10. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Edited by Jacob Hooson