​The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, today (June 25) fostered collaboration between Hong Kong and Shanghai at government, business and community levels in Shanghai.
In the morning, Mr Chan first met with Vice Mayor of Shanghai Mr Chen Jie to discuss issues of mutual concern. Mr Chan pointed out that, with the establishment of the Hong Kong/Shanghai Co-operation Conference mechanism for over 20 years, the exchanges and co-operation between the two places have resulted in fruitful achievements. Following the Sixth Plenary Session of the Hong Kong/Shanghai Co-operation Conference successfully held in April this year, the government departments and relevant organisations of Hong Kong and Shanghai have been furthering exchanges and co-operation in diverse fields such as commerce, finance, innovation and technology, culture and creativity, education, and youth development, to jointly develop new quality productive forces on both sides.
He said he hoped that Hong Kong and Shanghai will continue to pursue deeper and higher-level exchanges and co-operation in more areas under the principles of complementarity and mutual benefits, with a view to making greater contributions to the country's high-quality development.
Afterwards, Mr Chan visited the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Shanghai (SHETO) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government and received a briefing on its work. He also chatted with Hong Kong students doing internships at the SHETO. He was pleased to learn that, since the full resumption of normal travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland last year, the SHETO has paid visits to various Mainland provinces and cities. By organising and participating in a number of investment promotion events, exhibitions, cultural and arts performances, youth activities and more, the SHETO has been promoting Hong Kong at full steam.
He encouraged SHETO colleagues to continue leveraging various online and offline platforms to promote exchanges and co-operation between Hong Kong and the Eastern China region, tell good stories of Hong Kong to Mainland residents, and at the same time, strengthen liaison with and support for Hong Kong people and businesses on the Mainland.
Around noon, Mr Chan attended a meet-and-greet session held by the Shanghai Hong Kong Association. He met with dozens of Hong Kong people, and representatives of Hong Kong enterprises, in Shanghai to know more about their latest developments in Shanghai. He also introduced to them the latest policies of the HKSAR Government on proactively trawling from around the world for talent and enterprises, improving district governance etc.
He thanked the Shanghai Hong Kong Association for its efforts of and contributions to fostering exchanges and co-operation between Hong Kong and Shanghai. He encouraged Hong Kong people, and representatives of Hong Kong enterprises, in Shanghai to continue supporting Hong Kong’s active integration into the national development. He also encouraged them to promote Hong Kong's distinctive advantages to Shanghai talent and enterprises, attracting them to Hong Kong for business, investment, employment and entrepreneurship, and in turn, injecting impetus into Hong Kong's growth and serving the country's needs at the same time.
In the afternoon, Mr Chan attended the "Hello Hong Kong" event organised by Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) and exchanged views with stakeholders of the cultural and creative industries in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Speaking at the event, he said that the HKSAR Government has been steadfastly promoting the development of Hong Kong's cultural and creative industries and working with industry players to drive the city's development into an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchanges. The HKSAR Government has restructured Create Hong Kong into the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency to fully implement industry-oriented principles, and funded Hong Kong television stations to co-produce television variety programmes with Mainland/Asian production teams via the CreateSmart Initiative. "Endless Melody 2" co-produced by TVB and its Hunan partner is one of the funded projects.
Mr Chan stressed that the film and television entertainment industries are an integral part of Hong Kong's pop culture and a key area of East-meets-West cultural exchanges. The HKSAR Government will continue to further exchanges and co-operation between Hong Kong television stations and their partners from the Mainland as well as from around the world. This will involve producing more high-quality entertainment works and elevating the profile of Hong Kong's pop culture in the GBA and the global Chinese community at large, thereby fostering people-to-people bonds and mutual developments.
He also noted that both Hong Kong and Shanghai are important international cities of the country, with profound cultural heritage and rich cultural resources. He encouraged the industries in the two places to strengthen liaison and co-operation to jointly contribute to the high-quality development of the country's cultural and creative industries.
Mr Chan will return to Hong Kong tomorrow (June 26).
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