Efforts should be made to steer cross-Strait ties in the right direction, Jia said, urging the mainland and Taiwan to continue safeguarding the political foundation of jointly opposing "Taiwan independence" and sticking to the 1992 Consensus, increase mutual trust and remain good interaction, in a bid to create sound conditions for the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties.

The two sides should value the fruitful cooperation in these three years, and try to achieve new agreements during future negotiation on cross-Strait issues, using facts to prove that the relations were improving and enjoyed great potentials, Jia said.

He urged compatriots from both sides to remove various types of interference and create better conditions for future development of cross-Strait ties.

KMT honorary chairman Wu Poh-hsiung said when addressing the ceremony that Taiwan and the mainland should expand cooperation to maximize benefits for both sides.

"We should cement mutual trust, seek common ground while reserving differences, and treasure the hard-won peaceful development of cross-Strait ties," Wu said.

The mainland's Taiwan affairs chief, Wang Yi, said at the ceremony that the proposals adopted at the forum would help people from both sides, especially those at the grassroots level, benefit from the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties.

Wang, director of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said the forum played a guiding role in pushing forward the relations between the mainland and Taiwan.

The two sides should keep policies stable and safeguard the general situation of the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties, he said.

"I was impressed by the proposals on educational and cultural cooperation, as well as the youth exchanges between the two sides of the Strait," Chin Ching-Sheng, secretary-general of Taiwan's People First Party, told Xinhua after the conclusion of the forum.

"If we say that economic and trade cooperation is bringing the two sides 'hand in hand', the culture exchanges are making them feel 'heart to heart', and the youth exchanges provide indispensable momentum for the future development of cross-Strait relations," he said.

The forum and the adopted joint proposal had a great focus on the people's lives on both sides of the Strait, and the most remarkable example is the inclusion of nuclear power safety cooperation issues in the forum topics and the proposals, said Sheng Jiuyuan, a research fellow with the mainland-based Shanghai Pudong Institute for the Taiwan Economy.

With joint proposals to actively implement the ECFA, along with other measures to protect investors' rights, business owners from Taiwan will feel more reassured when they come to the mainland market, said Xu Zhisheng, a business owner from Taiwan who is now running a company in Shanghai.

About 450 representatives and experts from both sides attended the two-day forum.