The event was co-chaired by the chief executive and Shanghai mayor Gong Zheng, who also led a delegation from his city.
“The sixth plenary session held today is another important milestone in Shanghai-Hong Kong cooperation,” Lee said in his opening speech at the session.
“Hong Kong will continue to leverage its unique advantage of being backed by the motherland and connected to the world under the ‘one country, two systems’ governing principle, continue to deepen cooperation with Shanghai and work together to develop each other’s new quality productive forces, and jointly contribute to the country’s high-quality development,” he said.
Lee said the conference enjoyed strong support from central and Shanghai authorities, with the exchanges between the two cities becoming more frequent since it was established in 2003.
The total investment from Hong Kong businesses in Shanghai had also grown from US$2 billion in 2003 to US$17.4 billion last year, he noted.
Hong Kong’s leader also said the city had become one of Shanghai’s major export markets and its largest source of foreign investment.
Shanghai mayor Gong said his city and Hong Kong were the country’s two most international and modern metropolises, with the pair cooperating in areas such as economy, trade, science and technology, as well as culture over the years.
“Strengthening cooperation between Shanghai and Hong Kong is of great significance to promoting the prosperity and development of the two places and better serving the country,” he said.
Gong said Shanghai was ramping up efforts to turn itself into a socialist, modern and international metropolis under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s strategic planning, while Hong Kong was also consolidating and upgrading its status as an international centre of finance, shipping and trade, as well as continuing to enhance its core competitiveness.
“We sincerely hope that the two cities will take the signing of the new round of cooperation memorandums as an opportunity to deeply align their development strategies, carefully create cooperation highlights, and jointly promote the development of Shanghai-Hong Kong cooperation to a new level,” he said.
Hong Kong’s economy grew between 2.5% and 3.5% in first quarter, Paul Chan says
Hong Kong’s economy grew between 2.5% and 3.5% in first quarter, Paul Chan says
The Hong Kong-Shanghai Economic and Trade Cooperation mechanism was established in October 2003, later being renamed the Hong Kong-Shanghai Cooperation Conference after the third plenary session in 2015.
The fifth plenary session of the conference was held in August 2021, where the two cities reached a consensus on 13 areas of cooperation, including expansion into mainland China’s domestic market and the Belt and Road Initiative, cultural and creative industries, as well as innovation and technology.
Other areas of cooperation included finance, education and talent development, legal and dispute resolution, healthcare and medicine regulation, youth development, facilitation of Hong Kong people’s development on the mainland, civil aviation, and maritime transport and logistics.
Lee led a delegation to Shanghai in November of last year, which marked the 20th anniversary of the conference’s establishment.
Hong Kong’s leader and Gong witnessed the signing of five cooperation agreements or memorandums of understanding at the time.
The documents covered areas such as vocational and higher education, scientific research and people training, research and innovation, industry collaboration, as well as international arbitration.
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