Mainland Chinese companies will use Hong Kong’s capital market as the launching pad for their global growth, according to an action plan signed on Wednesday with Shanghai to connect the premier onshore commercial city with the nation’s offshore financial hub.
“Shanghai and Hong Kong are both international financial centres and have always played an important role in the country’s financial reforms,” Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said after signing the plan with Shanghai’s executive vice mayor Wu Wei. “The plan further clarifies the specific direction of cooperation between Shanghai and Hong Kong, and injects new and richer content into the multilevel and multi-field financial cooperation between the two cities. It is a new measure to deepen connectivity, and it highlights support to the ‘go global’ drive by mainland companies.”
Christopher Hui Ching-yu, Hong Kong’s secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, was expected to participate in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday evening, during which details of operating guidelines would be discussed, according to two local officials familiar with the matter.
“Facing the complicated geopolitical situations and volatile markets, Shanghai and Hong Kong need to join hands to strengthen their markets and to capture the opportunities,” Chan said.
