Premier Wen Jiabao said Saturday the mainland could sacrifice some of its interests in the negotiations of the cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA).

"The reason is very simple: Taiwan compatriots are our brothers," Wen said during an online chat with Internet users through the central government website www.gov.cn and www.xinhuanet.com, website of Xinhua News Agency.

Wen said the mainland would take into full consideration the interests of Taiwan's medium and small-sized enterprises and the Taiwan public, especially those of Taiwan farmers.

Advancing the ECFA conforms to the interests of people on the two sides, Wen said.

The ECFA, a wide-ranging economic pact between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, is a current priority in work on deepening cross-Strait economic cooperation.

The basic content of the agreement would cover major economic activities across the Strait, including market access for commodity trade and service trade, Rules of Origin, early harvest program, trade remedy, dispute settlement, investment and economic cooperation.

On Jan. 26, 2010, experts from the mainland and Taiwan held the first round of talks on the ECFA in Beijing.

Formal discussions would be held at the fifth round of talks this year between the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and the island's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), two organizations authorized to handle cross-Strait issues.