Chairman of the mailand's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Chen Yunlin (L) shakes hands with Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman P.K. Chiang during a cross-Straits meeting in Taipei December 21, 2010.

Chinese mainland and Taiwan negotiators signed a medical and health care cooperation agreement in Taipei Tuesday afternoon.

The agreement includes: timely notification of infectious disease; strengthened disease prevention measures and handling of major epidemics; enhanced cooperation in pharmaceutical research and safety management; exchange in traditional Chinese medicine research and quality guarantees; and cooperation in handling medical emergencies.

The agreement was inked at talks between the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), which are the two bodies authorized to handle cross-Strait affairs.