Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Lien Chan left for Beijing Thursday morning to attend a cross-Straits economic and trade forum to be held in Beijing.

According to the local media in Taiwan, Lien delivered a short s peech at the airport before departure. He said that in addition to attending the forum, he would go to Zhangzhou, his hometown in south China's Fujian Province, to hold a memorial ceremony for the ancestors.

Noting that the economy in Taiwan declined by large scale in the past years, he hoped that joint efforts could be made to find a way out for reviving Taiwan's economy.

Lien is expected to deliver a speech at the opening ceremony of the forum on April 14. Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, will meet with Lien during the forum.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) and the KMT agreed in Beijing on March 22 that a forum on economic and trade affairs between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan will be held in Beijing from April 14 to 15. The forum will focus on cross-Straits trade and economic affairs and direct flight.