The 4th Cross-Straits Economic, Trade and Cultural Forum would be held in Shanghai later this month, a Chinese mainland spokesman announced in Beijing Tuesday.

The forum was scheduled for December 20-21, after consultations with the Kuomintang (KMT) side, said the spokesman with the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

Aimed at furthering cross-Strait economic exchanges and cooperation, the forum would focus on expanding cross-Straits cooperation in finance and the service sector, encouraging two-way investment and promoting a regular cross-Straits economic exchange mechanism, the spokesman said.

Officials, scholars and personnel from the economic circle from the mainland and Taiwan would be present, he said.

Cross-Straits relations have been improving steadily since May this year and been launched into an orbit of peaceful development, he said, expressing belief that the forum would play an important role in furthering the ties.

The topics of the forum were substantial and of great concern to compatriots on both sides, and reflected an active attitude to strengthen cross-Straits economic cooperation and weather difficulties during the global financial crisis, he said.