The 10th Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum is scheduled to be held on May 3 in Shanghai, a mainland official said Friday.

The forum will be aimed at small and medium-sized companies, and young and grassroots people, said Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

By holding the event, the two sides across the Taiwan Strait hope to "deepen cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation, pool consensus, promote peaceful development of relations and further benefit people from both sides," Ma said.

Officials from the CPC, the Kuomintang (KMT), other political parties from the island, and relevant government agencies will attend the forum.

Delegates from small and medium-sized businesses, young and grassroots people, and financial, sci-tech, cultural and educational fields will also take part in the event.

The forum, initiated in 2006, is sponsored by the KMT and CPC.