BEIJING -- Senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Jia Qinglin will attend the cross-Strait forum on economy, trade and culture next month in China's southwest city of Chengdu, said a mainland spokesman Wednesday.

The forum, the seventh of such kind between the mainland and Taiwan, is set to be held on May 6-8 in Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan Province, said Yang Yi, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, at a regular press conference.

Jia is a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

Yang said Kuomintang (KMT) honorary chairman Wu Poh-hsiung will head a delegation from Taiwan to participate in the forum.

Topics including the mainland's development blueprint for the 12th Five-Year period (2011-2015) and Taiwan's plan to embrace a "Golden Decade" of development will be discussed at the forum, Yang said.

Also, discussions will be held on the implementation of the cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, cross-Strait educational and cultural cooperation as well as youth exchanges, the spokesman said.

A total of around 450 representatives and experts from both sides in the industrial and commercial circles, as well as in the culture and education sectors will be present at the forum.