Shanghai, Hong Kong boost financial cooperation at 2025 Lujiazui Forum

Shanghai and Hong Kong signed a new action plan to deepen financial integration at the 2025 Lujiazui Forum on Wednesday, aiming to enhance infrastructure connectivity and expand joint financial services.

At a plenary session during the two-day 2025 Lujiazui Forum which opened in Shanghai on Wednesday morning, a major milestone was reached with the signing of the Action Plan for Collaborative Development of Shanghai and Hong Kong International Financial Centers. The action plan focuses on improving infrastructure connectivity and co-developing a financial products and services system.

Officials emphasized that collaboration between Shanghai and Hong Kong is more than a simple combination of city resources, but it is a strategic alignment of complementary strengths that supports both national policy and global engagement.

"Most of our economy is service-driven, including not just financing, but also risk management and insurance. That's where Hong Kong can play a critical role in helping companies from the mainland, including those in Shanghai, go global more efficiently," said Christopher Hui, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government.

Over the past few years, financial ties between Shanghai and Hong Kong have rapidly deepened. Initiatives such as the Stock Connect, Bond Connect, and the newly launched Swap Connect have created seamless channels for trading stocks, bonds, and interest rate products between the two markets. In green finance, the two sides have worked together on product development, service delivery, innovation, and regulation.

"We see Shanghai as a gateway for reform and opening up and Hong Kong as a super-connector to the world. This complementary positioning, combined with regulatory alignment, can benefit not just China and Southeast Asia, but the global market as a whole," said Zhang Weizhong, chairman of the Board of Directors of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.

"Shanghai obviously offers a very deep liquid large market. Hong Kong offers a very open market infrastructure. I think these two markets are complementary and for us it's going to be not a choice between the two, but it's going to be investing in both these markets," said Gokul Laroia, CEO of Asia for Morgan Stanley.

With the theme of "Financial opening up and cooperation for high-quality development in a changing global economy," the 2025 Lujiazui Forum gathered more than 70 policymakers, regulators, and financial leaders from over 10 countries and regions.

Shanghai, Hong Kong boost financial cooperation at 2025 Lujiazui Forum

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Friday presided over a State Council executive meeting which studied further arrangements on energy conservation and carbon reduction, and heard a report on a special campaign on business-related administrative law enforcement.

The meeting also reviewed and approved a draft regulation on administrative law enforcement oversight, discussed a draft law on firefighters, and arranged work for a crackdown on tobacco-related illegal activities.

The meeting emphasized the need to ensure higher-standard and better-quality work in the fields of energy conservation and carbon reduction -- work which must be advanced with greater overall planning efforts and in light of local conditions.

To that end, the meeting called for efforts to maximize the impact of policies, continuously improve market mechanisms, and accelerate the transition to green production and green lifestyles.

A special campaign on regulating business-related administrative law enforcement this year has achieved positive results, the meeting noted, underlining further efforts to enhance the standardization of administrative law enforcement.

By drafting and implementing the regulation on administrative law enforcement oversight, the boundaries and responsibilities of law enforcement authorities will be clarified further, and administrative power will be upheld consistently within a legal framework, it said.

It discussed and approved in principle a draft law on firefighters, which will be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation.

It is imperative that the institutional arrangements for the country's firefighting force are improved, making it more standardized and professional, the meeting said, stressing the need to consolidate fire safety management, and to resolutely prevent and curb serious or major fire accidents.

Work will also be done to crack down strictly on tobacco-related illegal activities, strengthen supervision and law enforcement across all links, and improve the tobacco market environment, according to the meeting.

Chinese premier chairs meeting on carbon reduction, administrative law enforcement