President Ma Ying-jeou said Sunday that both Taiwan and China have agreed that there is no hurry to sign a proposed investment protection agreement between the two sides. 'Since both sides have failed to come to terms with several parts of the proposed agreement, it would be better for the pact to be signed later, ' President Ma told reporters while visiting the island of Penghu earlier in the day. The investment deal was originally scheduled to be signed by the heads of the two organizations in charge of negotiations -- Chairman Chiang Pin-kung of the Taipei-based Straits Exchange Foundation and President Chen Yunlin of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits -- in their next round of meeting in Taiwan before the end of year. But the signing of the deal is set to be postponed due to differences in details of the proposed pact, especially with regard to whether any international arbitration mechanism should be introduced in dispute settlement of the trade pact, according to officials involved in the pre-meeting talks. 'It would be good for the proposed pact to be shelved until terms acceptable to both sides are worked out,' the president said. President Ma would not comment on reports that Taiwan's demand for an international arbitration mechanism is the key source of disagreement behind the two sides, saying 'the controversies go beyond that and need to be solved gradually.' Taiwan hopes the investment protection agreement will protect Taiwanese investors in China. Investors have invested around US$100 billion in China over the years, but due to tense relations in the past, the two sides have yet to reach an agreement involving business dispute resolution and protection of investors. Chiang and Chen have met five times and signed 14 cross-strait agreements since President Ma was sworn into office in May 2008. The agreements are mostly aimed at boosting cross-strait trade and economic exchanges, with the most recent and important one being the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement inked in June. 