KUALA LUMPUR: The Russia-Ukraine war and weather uncertainties offer a "golden opportunity" for Malaysia to engage with the European Union and fill the gap in the global cooking oil supply.
Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin said Malaysia wanted to foster a cordial engagement with the trade bloc in search of a win-win solution that would benefit the palm oil industry.
"Engagements are being held through various platforms, such as the Asean-EU Joint Working Group, seminars or webinars and dialogues 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 the partnership under the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC)," she said today.
Under the Malaysia-EU partnership initiative, she said, two programmes were being pursued, namely the Sustainability of Malaysian and Indonesian Palm Oil project and the National Initiatives for Sustainable and Climate Smart Oil Palm Smallholders with the Netherlands.
Malaysia, she said, was working with Indonesia to counter anti-palm oil campaigns at the global level through the CPOPC.
Among the programmes under CPOPC, she said, were the joint missions by Malaysia and Indonesia to Europe to hold discussions and consultations with the in to managing palm oil-related issues.
Other areas of collaboration, she said, was the implementation of the EU Advocacy Programme, communications and promotional strategies in China, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, as well as social media campaigns among CPOPC member countries.
Both countries, she said, also jointly submitted protest letters to countries and trade blocs that discriminated palm oil.
In April 2019, Malaysia and Indonesia, the world's two largest palm oil producers, sent a letter of objection to the EU after the European Commission said palm oil should not be considered as a renewable fuel because it resulted in excessive deforestation.
Then, in Jan 15 last year, Malaysia initiated a legal action against the EU and two of its member states, France and Lithuania, under the World Trade Organisation's dispute settlement mechanism.
The legal action came after the EU classified palm oil as a crop with a high-risk rate towards indirect land-use change and said it contributed to deforestation and loss of biodiversity.
"Member countires of the bloc are adopting the European Union Renewable Energy Directive II in their legislations," said Zuraida.
"These are all part of the ministry's efforts in line with the global movement to champion palm oil.
"The world should believe in the potential of Malaysian palm oil because of the country's numerous palm oil sustainability initiatives."