Indonesia, Malaysia to send envoys to EU to discuss deforestation law

 

In December, the EU agreed on a deforestation law that required companies to prove that their commodities were not grown on land deforested after 2020.

PETALING JAYA: Indonesia and Malaysia plan to send envoys to the European Union to discuss the impact of the bloc’s new deforestation law on their palm oil sectors.

In a Bernama report, deputy prime minister Fadillah Yusof, who is also the plantation and commodities minister, said the mission will put forth scientific facts, economic interests in a social context, and estate practices applied in both countries.

“We will bring along representatives of smallholders to give our views,” said Fadillah.

“We always strive to comply with regulations in the palm oil industry, but they must be fair and understand the situation in both countries where we try to help smallholders come out of poverty.”

He was speaking to the media in Jakarta after a meeting with Indonesia’s coordinating minister for economic affairs Airlangga Hartarto.

In December, the EU agreed on a deforestation law that required companies to produce a due diligence statement showing when and where their commodities were produced.

The companies also have to provide “verifiable” information that they were not grown on land deforested after 2020, or risk hefty fines.

While the regulation has been welcomed by environmentalists as a key step to protect forests, Indonesia and Malaysia have accused the EU of implementing discriminatory policies targeting palm oil.

A Reuters report today stated that EU diplomats had denied the bloc was seeking to ban any imports of palm oil and said the law applied equally to commodities produced anywhere.

The Reuters report said that the envoys dispatched to the EU would also try to assure buyers that sustainability certifications introduced by Indonesia and Malaysia, known as ISPO and MSPO, respectively, already met international standards.

The EU is the third-largest palm oil market for both countries. Malaysia is the world’s second-biggest palm oil producer after Indonesia.

While Malaysia said last month it could stop exporting palm oil to the EU in response to the deforestation law, Airlangga said the issue of an export boycott was not brought up at today’s meeting.

“An export stoppage was not discussed… it was not an option,” he said in the Reuters report. - FMT