A delegation headed by Chinese mainland's chief negotiator on cross-Strait affairs Chen Yunlin arrived?at Taipei?Monday for a new round of talks with Taiwan, at which the two sides are expected to reach a medical and health cooperation agreement.

The talks between Chen, president of the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), and Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), are scheduled for Tuesday at Taipei's Grand Hotel.

It will be the sixth round of talks between the two leaders since the two organizations, authorized to handle cross-Strait issues by the mainland and Taiwan, resumed negotiations in June 2008 after a nine-year suspension.

Chiang said at the welcome ceremony that cross-Strait relations had progressed over the past two years since Chen visited Taipei in November 2008 for the second round of talks between the two organizations.

He said among the four follow-up deals of the cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), signed by the two sides in June, Taiwan businessmen paid great attention to the investment protection agreement, which would be touched upon during Tuesday's talks.

At a preparatory consultation last week in Shanghai, the two sides agreed to reach a consensus on the investment protection agreement at the upcoming talks, and would sign the deal soon, possibly at the next round of talks in 2011, in order to meet two-way investment needs across the Strait.

Chiang said the ARATS and SEF are expected to sign a medical and health cooperation agreement Tuesday, which "concerns people's interests" and will boost the growth of the medical sector on both sides.

The pact will touch upon prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, research and development of drugs, as well as research and safety management of traditional Chinese medicine, according to Taiwan authorities.

Chiang said the signing the ECFA helped drive the island's economic growth, which was expected to approach 10 percent this year.

He said the 14 pacts signed between the two sides during the past five talks had yielded results, and the cross-Strait talks had adhered to the principles of "easier topics first, difficult things second" and "economic issues first, political affairs second."

He said about 1.74 million mainland tourists had visited Taiwan during the first 11 months this year, which had brought about 88 billion New Taiwan dollars (2.9 billion U.S. dollars) to the island.

"Taiwan people have become more hospitable (after an increasing influx of tourists)," he said, adding that direct flights across the Strait had "saved time and cost."

The mainland and Taiwan had also cooperated to combat crimes and seized 1,354 suspects in 25 cases of cross-Strait telecommunications crimes, Chiang said.

The ARATS and the SEF will hold a preparatory meeting Monday afternoon in Taipei.