M’sia to continue working with Indonesia to defend palm oil

A file photo of a worker collecting palm oil fruit at a factory in Sepang, on Feb 18, 2014. – Reuters

KANGAR: Malaysia will continue to work with Indonesia to defend palm oil which is under sabotage by lobbyists in Europe, says Interna­tional Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Darell Leiking.

He said the cooperation began with both parties issuing statements and taking joint action to handle the ban by the European community.

“Only France is blocking the use of palm oil, even then not completely while the Netherlands is one of the biggest importers among the European nations.

“We will not be fighting back with the countries which are blocking the export of palm oil or portraying it negatively,” he said after a meeting with agencies under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry here yesterday.

Perlis Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azlan Man also attended the meeting.

Leiking said the orang utan and logging issues used by lobbyists in their campaign against palm oil had already been effectively tackled by the government, but the European community was still confused.

“We are aware that any ban on palm oil will have a negative effect and that is why we have to work with Indonesia. Any reaction by Indonesia will affect the countries boycotting palm oil,” he said.

Leiking also said that Malaysia would only stress on the good aspects of its palm oil and would not speak negatively of the products of other nations.

French Ambassador to Malaysia Frederic Laplanche recently said there was no ban on palm oil going into the European Union, but what was happening was that France and the EU as a whole were gradually withdrawing the incentives for palm oil to be added into the diesel mix.

He said it was because the calculation that was made showed that there was a problem of balance and carbon impact. — Bernama