Chief Executive John Lee said cooperation between Hong Kong and Shanghai was entering a new phase as the CE met with the city's mayor for a major conference on Friday.

Speaking at the sixth plenary session of the Hong Kong-Shanghai Co-operation Conference, Lee said the two cities would sign 20 cooperation documents and reach consensus on 65 projects in areas such as innovation technology, industrial development, digital economy and finance.

"Since the first meeting in 2003, the two cities have been engaging in more frequent exchanges... Hong Kong has become one of the major export markets and also the largest source of foreign investment into Shanghai," he said.

Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng said these exchanges created opportunities and built a win-win situation for the two cities.

"We sincerely hope that the two cities can take the opportunity of signing a new round of cooperation documents to integrate our development strategies comprehensively, create highlights for our cooperation and together push Hong Kong-Shanghai cooperation to a new phase," he said.

Deputy director of Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong Yin Zonghua, Shanghai Vice Mayor Hua Yuan, and Financial Secretary Paul Chan, were among the other leaders and officials at the meeting.