HONG KONG: Economic issues will be the focus in a ground-breaking official visit to Taiwan Friday, a top Hong Kong official said yesterday.

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Stephen Lam Sui-lung said Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council invited him for the two-day visit.

"We believe that we should continue to focus on our co-operation with Taiwan in the trade and economic sphere. There is lots of work to be done and we hope that this visit will help promote stronger ties between the two places," he said.

Lam said he will meet the council's deputy chief Fu Don-cheng and a deputy mayor of the Taipei City Government.

He added that he will not rule out the possibility of setting up an official or semi-official office in Taiwan under the right conditions.

"Our attitude is very practical and very positive. We believe that practical ties between Hong Kong and Taiwan should continue and should be promoted," said Lam.

He said the Trade Development Council had already set up an office in Taipei last year.

He said other Hong Kong officials may also visit Taiwan and will invite Taiwan officials to come to Hong Kong in the future.

He said the vice-president of the Kuomintang had invited Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen to visit Taiwan and he quoted Tsang as saying that the Chief Executive hoped to visit Taiwan during his current term of office.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said at a press release that it will discuss ways to forge economic ties and foster greater cultural exchange in its meetings with Lam.

It said both sides have held extensive discussions on setting up of a new bilateral cooperation group. The Council's deputy chief Fu Don-cheng visited Hong Kong at the government's invitation to talk about the matter in early March.

The council said it welcomes Lam's visit and hopes to see more communication between two sides in the future.

Choy Chi-keung, senior instructor at the Chinese University's department of government and public administration, called the visit ground-breaking.

In March, Secretary for Home Affairs Tsang Tak-sing made a historic visit to Taiwan as the head delegate for Hong Kong and Macao Buddhists delegation at the Second World Buddhist Forum.

(HK Edition 06/03/2009 page1)