during the state visit by king harald v of norway upon the invitation from president xi jinping, china enterprise confederation and the confederation of norwegian enterprise (nho) jointly hosted the china-norway high-level business roundtable to boost bilateral economic cooperation and trade. the meeting gathered nearly 60 business representatives from such sectors as petroleum, chemical industry, sea transport, energy, food manufacturing, healthcare, and digital technology. among them were mr. hao zhigang, board chairman and party chief of bluestar, and elkem ceo mr. helge aasen.
the visit by his excellence king harald v was aimed to deepen and expand bilateral pragmatic cooperation in various fields, reach consensus on comprehensive institutional arrangements for economic and trade cooperation, and further mutual benefits. this roundtable meeting was a solid step to this end. attendees exchanged views and discussed business opportunities, laying a solid foundation for future cooperation. mr. hao delivered a speech on the trade, investment and sustainable business development in both countries, in which he introduced bluestar's international strategy and latest development, its efforts and achievements in cross-cultural integration, and in particular elkem's asset integration in the silicon industry, ipo and contribution to the global silicon industry since the acquisition deal in 2011.
in the follow-up meeting with business representatives, his excellence praised chinese enterprises' outstanding contribution to norway's economic development and its economic and trade relations with china, in particular bluestar's successful investment in norway and, exploration in in-depth bilateral economic cooperation. his excellence said bluestar has become a model in china-norway commercial and trade relations and hoped that it would continue to intensify cooperation efforts, deepen bilateral economic cooperation and contribute more to economic development in both countries.
