Malaysia is determined to foster a cordial engagement with the European Union in search of a win-win solution that can benefit the palm oil industry at large.
Engagements are currently being held through various platforms, for example the ASEAN-EU Joint Working Group, seminar programmes or webinars and dialogues/discussions via economic and palm oil promotion missions in the EU.
Malaysia hopes to channel various updated information on the palm oil industry – in particular from the health/nutrition and sustainability fronts – to eradicate misconceptions of palm oil and its related products as evident in the widespread anti-palm oil campaigns in the EU.
Aligned with these efforts are two initiatives, namely the Malaysia-EU partnership programmes aimed at enhancing the sustainability of the palm oil trade and thepartnership under the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC).
Under the Malaysia-EU partnership initiative, two programmes stand out – the Sustainability of Malaysian and Indonesian Palm Oil project or KAMI which stands for Keberlanjutan Sawit Malaysia and Indonesia, and the National Initiatives for
Sustainable and Climate Smart Oil Palm Smallholders (NI-SCOPS) with the Netherlands.
As for the CPOPC initiative, Malaysia is working closely with Indonesia to counter anti-palm oil campaigns at the global level. A symbolic gesture between the world’s top two palm oil producers, various programmes have been or in the midst of being
implemented to foil onslaught of the anti-palm oil campaigns.
Notable programmes undertaken under the CPOPC include: Joint mission to Europe under CPOPC with the participation of both Malaysia and Indonesia to hold discussions and consultations with EU to manage palm oil-related issues in Europe; Joint submission of protest letters to countries/trade blocs which discriminate palm oil, i.e., the EU; and Implementation of the EU Advocacy Programme; communication and promotional strategies in China, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh as well as social media campaigns among CPOPC’s member countries.
Leaders of Malaysia and Indonesia – the world’s two biggest palm oil producers – had in April 2019 sent a letter of objection to the EU to criticise its decision to no longer consider palm oil as a green fuel and threatening the bloc’s ties with both
countries.
This came about after the European Commission was determined that palm oil has resulted in excessive deforestation and that it should no longer be considered a renewable transport fuel albeit with some exemptions.
This has led to Malaysia initiating its maiden legal action against the EU and two of its members – France and Lithuania – on 15 January 2021 under the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Dispute Settlement Mechanism.
Such action followed the EU’s decision to classify palm oil as a crop with high-risk rate towards indirect land use change, hence deemed to contribute towards deforestation and loss of biodiversity. EU member countries are currently adopting
the European Union Renewable Energy Directive II in their respective legislation. These are all part of MPIC’s efforts in line with the global movement to champion the goodness of palm oil.
