BOAO, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland and Taiwan opened a forum Tuesday to boost agricultural cooperation and promote peace and development across the Taiwan Straits.

The forum, held in Boao in the southernmost island province of Hainan, will present a "bright outlook" for cross-strait agricultural development and common prosperity, said Chen Yunlin, director of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China(CPC) Central Committee.

"The mainland and Taiwan have made concerted efforts over the past two decades to keep expanding cooperation in the agricultural sector," Chen told the forum that opened at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday.

He said such cooperation has started to benefit both sides of the straits but still has immense potentials for further expansion.

The forum, hosted by the CPC and the Chinese Kuomintang, is designed to provide a platform for the two sides to explore solutions to their practical problems and seek more rational allocation of their agricultural resources so as to supplement each other and expand cooperation, Chen said.

It is "of great significance" for experts, scholars and agricultural proprietors from both sides of the Taiwan Straits to discuss problems confronting their farmers and prospects of their cooperation, said Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) Honorary Chairman Lien Chan at the forum.

Lien said he believed it would "turn over a new page" of cross-strait cooperation.

The major theme of the forum is how the two sides should join hands and assist each other to face opportunities and challenges in agricultural development after their respective entry into the World Trade Organization, he said.

"After our extensive contacts with Taiwan farmers, we feel it is both important and pressing to enhance cross-strait cooperation in the agricultural sector," he added.

The "three direct links", Lien said, will help both sides sharpen their competitive edge in the agricultural sector. "Most shipments between the mainland and Taiwan have to go through Hong Kong, Macao or other regions. It takes longer and costs more and therefore impairs our competitiveness."

The mainland has been urging early realization of "three direct links" of trade, mail and transport across the straits since 1979.

The forum also sees the attendance of Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau.