"We urge the U.S. to seriously consider holding FTA talks with Taiwan as the U.S. is Taiwan's most important trading partner and Taiwan is the ninth trading partner of the U.S. ," Wu Hsin-hua, deputy director of the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOF), told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"A free trade agreement can lower import tariffs and remove non-tariff obstacles. So it is very important for Taiwan and the U.S. to hold FTA talks and sign a free trade agreement," he said.

"We will reiterate our call during the upcoming TIFA talks," he added.

Taiwan and the U.S. will hold the sixth round of TIFA talks in Washington DC on July 10-11. Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Karan Bhatia and Taiwan's Deng Chen-chung will represent the U.S. and Taipei in the talks.

The TIFA Agenda will include discussions on issues including investment, taxation, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, government procurement, intellectual property rights and trade security.

This TIFA meeting will also provide an opportunity to explore how to enhance cooperation to advance trade liberalization regionally, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement.

In 2006, two-way trade between Taiwan and the U.S. was 61 billion U.S. dollars, the AIT statement added.

Taiwan and the U.S. held their first TIFA talks in 1994.

Taiwan has been seeking to sign an FTA with the U.S. , but Washington has been reluctant to sign it, apparently for fear of angering China, which sees Taiwan as its breakaway province.

Taiwan is recognized by only 24, mostly small, nations. So far Taiwan has only signed FTAs with Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras, which have diplomatic ties with Taipei.