Indonesia president calls for collaboration with Malaysia to fight 'discrimination' against palm oil

KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesia president Joko Widodo on Thursday called for better collaboration with neighbouring Malaysia to fight what he called "discrimination" against their countries' palm oil products.

Indonesian and Malaysia are the world's top two producers and exporters of palm oil, a commodity used in everything from lipstick to pizza.

"We need to strengthen this collaboration. We don't want commodities produced by Malaysia and Indonesia to be discriminated against in other countries," Jokowi, as the Indonesian president is known, said in a press conference in Kuala Lumpur after meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

His comments come after the European Union passed a law this year banning imports of commodities linked to deforestation, a move that is expected to hurt exports of palm oil to the bloc.

Malaysia has called the law "unjust" and has said it is working with Indonesia to consider an appropriate response to the law. - Reuters