Chinese Premier Li Keqiang says the central government has approved the implementation plan to connect the Hong Kong and Shenzhen bourses.
The cross-border investment programme is being modeled after the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, which was launched in Nov. 2014, and allows mainland investors to buy Hong Kong stocks, and vice versa.
The program is expected to expand overseas investors' exposure to China's onshore stock market.
Li Keqiang says the planned launch of the scheme will deepen the financial cooperation between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, further consolidating the region's role as an international financial center.
He notes it marks another steady step towards building a legally regulated capital market with international features.
The announcement on the State Council's website comes about two months after MSCI cited accessibility issues in deciding not to include Chinese-listed shares in its global benchmark indexes.
The statement didn't give any indication on when the connect would start.
For more on this, CRI's Liu Mohan spoke with John Ross, Senior fellow of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University
