Hong Kong and Shanghai are unlocking more new opportunities for collaborative development with their positions as the country's "dual engine" financial centers, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu said Thursday.

Addressing a seminar at the 2025 Lujiazui Forum, Hui said Hong Kong and Shanghai were providing strong support for the country's "dual circulation" strategy.

Hui on Wednesday signed on behalf of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government the Action Plan for Collaborative Development of Shanghai and Hong Kong International Financial Centres with Shanghai to promote collaborative development between the two financial centers.

"Riding on the solid foundation of Stock Connect, mutual-market access between financial markets on the mainland and Hong Kong has been expanding in scope and capacity,” Hui said at a plenary session of the Lujiazui Forum yesterday.

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Hui said programs such as Bond Connect, the inclusion of Exchange Traded Funds into Stock Connect, and Swap Connect enhance not only the product offering for domestic and foreign investors but also the attraction for more capital influx into the capital markets of the two places.

"At the same time, Hong Kong needs to further enrich the offerings of its offshore Renminbi (RMB) market to facilitate the adoption of RMB by global market participants,” he said.

He said the HKSAR government will step up efforts in four areas: Enhancing offshore RMB liquidity, increasing products, improving infrastructure, and expanding new markets.

On the topic of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies, Hui said that by utilizing the innovative capabilities of private institutions, stablecoins are meant to create new use cases for the digital economy with the integration of the financial system with the real economy.

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He said Hong Kong's stablecoin regulatory framework takes into account both innovation and systemic risk prevention. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is also engaging the industry to carry out initial exploration on wholesale CBDCs.

"In future, we anticipate closer collaboration with Shanghai in areas such as financial innovation and green finance to achieve synergy effects," Hui said.

During his stay in Shanghai, Hui also visited several financial institutions, including the Shanghai Gold Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange, and met with Deputy Chief Executive of the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Wang Huabin, and President of Bank of Communications Zhang Baojiang.