Traditional ceremony: Financial Secretary Henry Tang (centre) is flanked by the Shanghai Hong Kong & Macau Affairs Office Director-General Yang Guoqiang (left) and the Shanghai office Director Patrick Chan at the official opening of the Economic & Trade Office.

A new Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office has opened in Shanghai, to promote economic relations and cooperation between Hong Kong and the Yangtze River Delta and neighbouring areas, including the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Hubei.

At the opening ceremony today, the Financial Secretary said the timely establishment of the Shanghai office would strengthen Hong Kong's trade and economic ties and exchanges with Shanghai and the four provinces and help take forward relevant items in Hong Kong's action agenda under the Mainland's 11th five-year plan.

"The implementation of CEPA [the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement between Hong Kong and the Mainland] has widened the scope for economic and trade cooperation between Hong Kong and the region, and the extension of the individual visit scheme to Shanghai and the capital cities of the four provinces has brought the peoples of the two places closer," Mr Tang said.

"The National 11th Five-Year Plan has explicitly supported Hong Kong's development of service industries in such areas as financial services, logistics, tourism and information services. It also gives recognition to our edge in modern service industries and their contributions towards the country's continued economic growth.

"Hong Kong, with its proven edge, can serve as the gateway and platform for the Mainland to 'go out', thus contributing to the country's economic development," he added.

Patrick Chan is the director of the new office. He said exchanges and cooperation between Hong Kong and the areas surrounding the office will be more frequent and closer.

Seminar to outline HK's financial services 

The office will host a seminar on Hong Kong's financial services tomorrow, at which Mr Tang will officiate. About 200 business leaders and senior managers are expected to attend.

The seminar's speaker lineup includes Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Limited Chief Executive Paul Chow,  Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission board member and Intermediaries & Investment Products Executive Director Alexa Lam, Invest HK's Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion Simon Galpin and representatives from the banking, accountancy and financial services sectors.

The new Shanghai office is located on the 21st floor, The Headquarters Building, 168 Xizang Road Middle, Huangpu District, Shanghai.