Representatives from the two sides signed the agreement on Friday, during their first formal talks in almost a decade. The accord was a step toward restoring transport links severed 59 years ago.

The agreement came on the second day of talks between Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation and its mainland counterpart, the first formal talks between the sides since 1999.

It lends strong momentum to efforts to build confidence and spur cooperation between the sides, which divided amid war in 1949.