VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Government of Indonesia and Malaysia agree to increase cooperation regarding negative campaigns against palm oil products in the European Union. The deal was reached during a bilateral meeting between Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and Foreign Minister of Malaysia Saifuddin Abdullah in Jakarta on Monday July 23.

"We agreed to increase cooperation to counter the negative campaign against palm products in the European Union," said the foreign minister.

In the meantime, Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said Indonesia and Malaysia as the two largest palm oil producer countries in the world should cooperate in maintaining the palm oil market in Europe.

"Both countries are the largest producers of palm oil products in the world, so we have to be compact. We agree that both countries should intensify discussions and cooperation because this issue is so big," Saifuddin said.

Furthermore, the two Ministers also agreed to play their respective roles in order to issue a negative campaign against palm products in the European Union region to be managed in a structured manner.

"We need to work more closely with this palm oil issue," said the Malaysian Foreign Ministry.

On June 14, 2018, a trio meeting between the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Union Council produced several points on palm oil products. However, there is no special or explicit reference to palm oil in the deal. The result of the trialogous meeting is also not a ban or restriction of palm oil or biofuel imports.

Furthermore, the relevant provisions of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) II are intended only to regulate the extent to which certain biofuel can be calculated by EU member states to achieve their sustainable energy targets.

However, the approved RED II text stipulates that the contributions of certain categories of bio-fuels, particularly those that have a high risk of indirect land-use change (ILUC) and from the expansion of food or raw materials, the production area of which is significantly the land with high carbon stocks, will be limited at the consumption level of 2019.

The Indonesian government considers that the draft EU trio results would use ILUC as a criterion, reflecting a more European view of the unilateral than internationally accepted views. (ANTARA)