Hong Kong is set to ink deals with Zhejiang province across key sectors, including tech, housing, trade and youth development, said Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Tuesday as he began a four-day visit accompanied by one-third of Hong Kong’s top officials.

Lee said Hong Kong and Hangzhou have room for collaboration amid rising geopolitical complexities, with both cities placing a strong emphasis on innovation and technology.

In a social media post shortly after arriving in Hangzhou, Zhejiang’s provincial capital, Lee said he has brought bureau heads along with him for the visit in a bid to finalize the collaboration deals, as the city is set to strike a cooperation mechanism with the province during the visit.

His itinerary highlights Zhejiang’s prominence as a technology hub and Hong Kong’s push to attract high-growth firms to the special administrative region for listings and global expansion.

The chief executive is scheduled to attend a high-level cooperation meeting in Hangzhou and a Hong Kong investment promotion conference in Ningbo, where he will highlight Hong Kong’s strategic role as a gateway for Zhejiang enterprises seeking to expand overseas.

During his visit, Lee will meet with Zhejiang’s provincial leaders and tour the Hangzhou Future Sci-Tech City Urban Exhibition Hall, a hub spotlighting the region’s most promising startups — collectively known as the “Hangzhou Six Tigers”.

Lee’s first stop was the Zhejiang University-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, a pioneering institution integrating material science, information technology, and life sciences.

He praised the 6-year-old center as a successful model of industry-academia-research synergy, noting its breakthroughs in critical fields like semiconductor materials — advancements that help address China’s technological challenges.

The center also hosted an exhibition showcasing Hong Kong’s technology transfer initiatives with Hangzhou, underscoring the growing cross-border innovation network.

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Amid rising geopolitical complexities, Lee said, both cities are prioritizing innovation and technology to maintain competitiveness. He pointed to Hong Kong’s unique strength as a home to multiple world-class universities ranked among the global top 100, fostering a robust talent pool for cutting-edge research.

“Strengthening exchanges and mutual learning in innovation and technology between the two regions will foster deeper collaboration and drive greater breakthroughs for national development,” Lee said.

Later, at a banquet, Lee encouraged Hong Kong residents and representatives of enterprises in Zhejiang to leverage their strengths to serve local enterprises in going global and attracting foreign investment, with a view to contributing to mutual benefits and the high-quality development of the two places.

He highlighted the city’s rapid advancements in technological innovation since his last visit for the 19th Asian Games opening ceremony in 2023, and expressed a keen interest in learning more about the “Hangzhou Six Tigers” — a nod to the “Four Asian Tigers” (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea).

Leading the pack is DeepSeek, an AI company that developed a large-scale language model at just a fraction of the typical cost.

“During this visit, I am also eager to further strengthen ties and exchanges between Zhejiang and Hong Kong, injecting new momentum into our collaborative development across economy, innovation, technology, and public welfare,” Lee wrote in his social media post.

Lee has previously highlighted the longstanding ties between Hong Kong and Zhejiang, noting the frequent exchanges between the two places in trade, culture, and youth engagement.

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This visit aims to establish a formal cooperation mechanism that can enhance mutual benefits and support the national drive to develop “new quality productive forces”, he said, referring to innovation-driven, high-quality growth through technological breakthroughs, digital transformation, and industrial upgrading.