Chief Executive John Lee today addressed a conference and met senior officials of Shanghai as he continued his visit to the city.

In the morning, Mr Lee delivered a speech at the “Hong Kong - The Ideal Platform for Mainland Enterprises in Going Global Promotion Conference”, highlighting Hong Kong’s advantages as an international platform for going global.

He met Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Chen Jining and Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng in the afternoon. Executive Deputy Director of the Hong Kong & Macao Work Office of the CPC Central Committee and the Hong Kong & Macao Affairs Office of the State Council Xu Qifang also attended the meeting.

Mr Lee congratulated the Shanghai officials on the successful opening of the China International Import Expo and expressed his wishes for its success. He also thanked the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and the Shanghai Municipal Government for their support to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government in holding the promotion conference during this year’s expo.

Mr Lee noted that the Task Force on Supporting Mainland Enterprises in Going Global, proposed in his latest Policy Address, has commenced its work.

As the first large-scale publicity event on the Mainland organised by the task force, the promotion conference is of great significance, he stressed, adding that Shanghai and Mainland enterprises are welcome to use Hong Kong as a springboard in exploring overseas markets and pursuing development together.

He also thanked the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and the Shanghai Municipal Government for their emphasis and support on Shanghai-Hong Kong co-operation over the years.

Noting that the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s International Board launched its first offshore gold delivery vault in Hong Kong this June, Mr Lee said the Hong Kong SAR Government will continue to work with Shanghai to promote gold trading co-operation.

The Chief Executive further remarked that with Shanghai’s development in artificial intelligence (AI) and Hong Kong’s efforts in leveraging its strengths in research, capital, data and talent to develop into an international innovation and technology centre, the two places could synergise and jointly develop a global hub for AI.

He also expressed confidence that the two cities will continue to complement each other’s strengths in order to jointly develop new quality productive forces.