GUANGZHOU - Taiwan's leading trade promotion agency has opened its third mainland office in the southern booming city of Guangzhou in a latest bid to promote cross-Straits economic and trade cooperation.

The Taiwan Trade Center opened its Guangzhou representative office on Wednesday, the third of its kind on the mainland after ones in Shanghai and Beijing.

The Guangzhou office will serve southern regions including Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and Hainan provinces, the center said.

Wang Chih-Kang, president of the agency, said the office will help Taiwan's companies to tap into the mainland market and deepen economic and trade cooperation.

The center will help boost cooperation mainly in modern service sectors including exhibitions, tourism, medical care and logistics, and seek to provide platforms for exchanges and cooperation for businesses across the Taiwan Strait, he said.

Wang said the agency chose Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, because Taiwan and the province, a major destination for Taiwan's investment, have huge room for further economic cooperation.

Guangdong is home to 25,000 Taiwan-funded businesses, having attracted a combined investment of $52.1 billion, according to data from the Guangdong provincial department of foreign trade and economic cooperation.

Meanwhile, trade between Guangdong and Taiwan rose 12 percent year on year to a record $58.6 billion last year, accounting for one third of trade across the Strait.