The Ministry of Commerce is set to announce a package of favorable policies to promote "low-volume" trade between the mainland and Taiwan, a senior official said yesterday.

Speaking at the Cross- Straits Economic and Trade Forum in Xiamen, in East China's Fujian Province, Chong Quan, the assistant minister of commerce, said the polices might include a lifting of the current restrictions on ships' tonnage and trade volume per voyage at designated mainland coastal ports.

He said the mainland would also loosen restrictions on who could trade and what could be traded, without giving details.

The existing rules on low- volume cross-Straits trade state that the value of goods carried by any vessel per voyage may not exceed $100,000, and that all goods must be carried by Taiwanese ships of less than 100 tons.

It is also stipulated that trade can be conducted only by residents of Taiwan with companies from the mainland that specialize in small-volume trade with the region. In addition, imports from Taiwan are limited to products that originated there.

Chong said that small-volume trade had become an important part of the economic relationship between the mainland and Taiwan, and that it was necessary to issue more favorable polices to "encourage" its development.

Chong said that over the past 20 years, a series of active and practical policies adopted by the mainland to promote its economic relationship with Taiwan had achieved remarkable results.

Yesterday, the city also saw the opening of the 11th China Xiamen Machinery & Electronics Exhibition (CXMEE), which has attracted a record high of more than 700 exhibitors.