Beijing and Hong Kong signed investment contracts for 15 key projects with a total value of $3.53 billion at the 22th Beijing-HK Economic Cooperation Symposium held in the capital on Thursday.

The projects involve several industries, including consulting, infrastructure construction, medical care and finance.?

Vincent Lo, chairman of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, said cooperation between companies from Beijing and HK in the past years has been smooth and fruitful.?

"HK is an effective and useful platform for companies from the mainland to invest overseas," he said.?

The projects discussed during the symposium mainly focus on Beijing's role in national cultural and scientific innovation centers.?

For instance, several HK companies signed on to invest in Beijing's telecommunications industry and cultural art centers.?

In addition, Fitch Ratings' HK headquarters signed a contract with Beijing's Chaoyang district to set up a credit rating company in Beijing, which will help the capital learn from the company's financial service experience.?

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology signed with a local Beijing company to jointly build a lab on artificial intelligence and computer vision.?