BEIJING -- Negotiations on a cross-Strait investment protection agreement have gone smoothly and consensus been made on most issues, said a Chinese mainland official on Wednesday.

Negotiators from both the mainland and Taiwan should accelerate the process so that the agreement could be signed during the 7th meeting of the heads of the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), said Fan Liqing, spokeswoman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, at a press conference.

The ARATS and the SEF are organizations authorized by the two sides to handle cross-Strait issues.