Zheng Lizhong, the visiting deputy director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, met with local farmers on a visit to Tainan County in southern Taiwan Monday and expressed an interest in further agricultural cooperation between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Zheng, who also serves as vice president of the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) , said China's government has attached great importance to its agricultural development. After seeing that Tainan County enjoys a competitive edge in the sector with its high-quality subtropical fruits, Zheng suggested the county capitalize on its advantages in cooperating with China, focusing on high value-added items and strengthening the division of labor across the Taiwan Strait. He said his country will soon send a procurement delegation to Tainan and that he hopes the county will sell its best fruit to the mainland. As to the problems of quarantine and customs clearance, Zheng said he anticipated they would be likely put on the agenda of the fourth round of talks between the ARATS and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation -- two intermediary bodies founded to handle cross-Taiwan Strait exchanges in the absence of official links. On Monday, Zheng also visited Chiayi County where he toured Budai harbor, a designated destination for direct cross-strait cargo shipping links. Zheng arrived in Taiwan last Wednesday to work out the agenda of the planned fifth forum between Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China, which will be held July 11-12 in Changsha, Hunan Province in central China. 