The Hong Kong Shanghai Economic Summit was held in Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences on June 1, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong’s Return to the Motherland. This high-level conference was a joint effort of the Better Hong Kong Foundation, the Hong Kong and Macau Studies Center of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and the Taiwan and Overseas Chinese Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Chairman of Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Mr. Jiang Yiren, Vice-Chairman of Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and President of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Mr. Wang Rong Hua, Chairman of Shanghai Social Sciences Association and Former Vice Director of Xinhua News Agency HK Branch, Mr. Lee Chuwen, Convenor of the Executive Council HKSAR, The Honourable CY Leung, Vice-chairman of the Basic Law Committee and Former Secretary of Justice of HKSAR, Ms. Elsie Leung, Executive Chairman of the Better Hong Kong Foundation, Dr. Ronnie Chan and Director of HK and Trade Affairs Shanghai of HKSAR, Mr. Chan Chi King have attended the conference and gave speeches.
Trustees of the Foundation Tan Sri Dato’ David Chiu, Mr. Leung Wai Fung, Council Members Mr. Chen Li Po and Mr. Woo Chu also attended the conference.
More than 100 Government officials, investors and professionals from Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen discussed from different perspectives the successful implementation of “One Country Two Systems” in Hong Kong, and the opportunities arisen in the course of integration between Hong Kong and the Mainland. Experts from different fields compared the education system, social welfare system and medical system; reviewed the development of the various systems of the two cities in the past ten years; as well as explored opportunities to enhance collaboration between Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Members of the meeting were of the view that Hong Kong and Shanghai both were energetic cities, had their own competitive edges and were also strategic to the development of China especially in the midst of increasingly globalized competition. It was advised that Hong Kong businessmen should participate more actively in Shanghai’s development; and the two cities should work closer, especially under the CEPA, to foster further economic development of the two cities and the economic development of China as a whole; and ultimately both cities would benefit from increasing their respective competitiveness in the process.
