on the eve of the national day, mr. helge aasen, board director of bluestar and ceo of elkem, norway, won the 2018 “friendship award” of the chinese government and was invited by the chinese government to attend the award ceremony in beijing. mr. aasen has made outstanding contributions in promoting bluestar's assets integration of the silicon industry at home and abroad, getting bluestar listed on the oslo stock exchange, realizing bluestar's integrated management of global silicon industry, and turning chemchina’s silicon industry into the one with the world's leading competitiveness.
the “friendship award” of the chinese government, organized and implemented by the state administration of foreign experts affairs, is the highest national award granted by the chinese government to foreign experts working in china. it is designed to thank and commend foreign experts for their outstanding achievements and dedication in china's social development, economic, technological, educational, and cultural undertakings, and personnel training.
since he led elkem to join bluestar in 2011, mr. aasen has proactively implemented the development strategy of chemchina and bluestar. he is pragmatic, attaching significant importance to technological innovation and upgrading. he has actively introduced overseas production and management technologies to china. the “dragon” control system, elkem’s silicon metal production plant, was brought in lanzhou silicon, realizing the leapfrog development of china's silicon metal forging technology. elkem’s commercial management system was successfully introduced to xinghuo silicones so that china’s silicone production and management reached the international level.
mr. aasen had promoted elkem's integration of bsi, xinghuo silicones, and lanzhou silicon, and completed elkem’s ipo on the oslo stock exchange to make elkem the first chinese company going public in norway, so that bluestar becomes a leader in the globally integrated silicon industry ranging from silicon metal to specialty silicone products downstream. under his leadership, elkem has been growing in recent years, with its operating performance increasing significantly. in 2017, elkem’s sales revenue reached nok 21.339 billion, up 26.11% from the previous year, and ebitda amounted to nok 3.135 billion, up 104.37% on year-on-year basis.
as an entrepreneur with a sense of social responsibility, he has always taken sustainable development as his own duty to incorporate environmental benefits into the business management. in 2017, elkem won the 2017 norwegian climate business award for the continuous attention to innovation and emission reduction and effective promotion of green economy.
