KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28\u00a0(NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia has invited Thailand to join the\u00a0Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) as a member\u00a0to create\u00a0a stronger voice to address\u00a0discriminatory protectionist measures against palm oil and rubber producers at the Asean level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Fadillah Yusof, who is also Plantation and Commodities Minister, said that with Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand joining forces, they could speak with a bigger and louder voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe will undertake a joint mission to Europe to discuss with their leaders and members of Parliament to explain our efforts not only in terms of business and economy but also the smallholders\u2019 dependence (on the plantation industry as their source of income). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the palm oil sector alone, nearly 500,000 plantation workers rely on the industry for a living, and if we include smallholders, the total number will be larger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo we need to explain to them that whatever they implement has the potential of affecting the income of these smallholders who depend on what they produce,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A CPOPC ministerial meeting will be held in May with Malaysia being the chairman this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fadillah said CPOPC would deliberate on strategies to address the external challenges, particularly from the European Union (EU) and the United States (US).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the challenges or pressures faced is the implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) based on the premise that commodity products should be deforestation-free and not be produced through forced labour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have given our commitment towards environmental sustainability. That is why we have established the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification standard and Indonesia also has its Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe also seek to safeguard against forced labour. Through MSPO, we have a system for detecting the sources of palm oil to enable us to meet whatever standards are set by Europe and the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe issue is, is the real reason (for the rules) to protect the environment? That is the question, as it may also be used as a trade barrier to protect their self interests and own oil products,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fadillah said the government would work together with the kenaf plantation industry players to explore further the potential of the commodity, which could generate revenue for the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said various studies were being conducted to explore the possibilities and benefits, including developing it into construction materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have to study how to produce quality seeds, the harvesting process, the process to extract fibre from kenaf, and the downstream products as well as the whole commodity chain,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
— NNN-BERNAMA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28\u00a0(NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia has invited Thailand to join the\u00a0Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) as a member\u00a0to create\u00a0a stronger voice to address\u00a0discriminatory protectionist measures against palm oil and rubber producers at the Asean level. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Fadillah Yusof, who is also Plantation and Commodities Minister, said that with Malaysia, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":199999,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[215,288,300,286,318],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212664"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=212664"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212665,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212664\/revisions\/212665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/199999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=212664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=212664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=212664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}