The European business community believes the proposed palm oil import ban requires an enormous amount of dialogues among stakeholders to understand each other’s position better.
The European Union (EU) Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EUMCCI) CEO Roberto Benetello (picture) told The Malaysian Reserve (TMR) that both parties — exporter countries like Malaysia and the EU countries as importers — need to understand each other’s position in order to have a better debate in the future.
"It's important for Malaysia to understand the expectations from Europe in terms of sustainability, as much as the Europeans to understand what progress has been made here (in Malaysia) to improve the sustainability aspect and get the real picture of the current situation," Benetello told TMR on the sidelines of the Europa Awards for Sustainability 2018 soft launch in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Over the years, palm oil has received a lot of flak. Ask the average person on the street, and chances are that he or she will pile the blame of environmental concerns such as the haze on this type of oil.
However, experts caution us not to dismiss palm oil entirely: they say that palm oil, when sustainably resourced,brings benefits to the environment, workers involved as well as animals.
This was the point of view of Chief Executive Officer of Malaysian Palm Oil Council Dr Kalyana Sundram who spoke at the EU-Malaysia International Discourse on Palm Oil Sustainability. The event was held by the EU-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EUMCCI) on 11th October in Kuala Lumpur.
“Palm oil has a bad image. Positive attitude about sustainable palm oil is still low,” he said, noting that some people have never even heard of sustainable palm oil.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is addressing “inaccurate” points in the European Parliament’s draft report on palm oil usage and sustainability, and will submit its views to the European side tomorrow.
Malaysia would also be sending a delegation to Brussels, Belgium next week to discuss the matter with members of the European Parliament (MEPs), said Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) chief executive officer Dr Kalyana Sundram.
The 200-odd page draft report titled “Study on the environmental impact of palm oil consumption and on existing sustainability standards” was produced after the European Parliament’s resolution on April 4 to phase out unsustainable palm oil and other vegetable oils by 2020.
The European Parliament had also endorsed the certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) plan for Europe-bound vegetable oil exports to ensure that they are produced in an environmentally sustainable way.
“There are lots of claims or citations in [the draft report] which we find are not 100% accurate or not generally relevant to the scenario in Malaysia,” said Kalyana.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water (KeTTHA) is targeting to generate RM1.6 billion in business leads through its annual and eighth edition of the International Greentech & Eco Products Exhibition & Conference Malaysia (IGEM 2017).
"As urban populations continue to rise, it is becoming increasingly important to create sustainable living spaces through ecological innovations and practices,” said KeTTHA’s acting deputy minister, Datuk Seri SK Devamany in a statement.
“This year’s theme of Powering Green Cities not only reflects this necessity, but also ties in seamlessly with Malaysia’s TN50 aspiration of creating a greener future whereby cities are powered by renewable energy, people commute via electric and energy efficient vehicles as well as live and work in green buildings.”
“In fact, we expect to attract 25,000 trade visitors from over 20 countries this year, and is aiming to generate RM1.6 billion in business leads.”

Selepas 60 tahun mencapai kemerdekaan, Malaysia melakar kemajuan pesat dengan pelaburan menjadi penggerak kepada pertumbuhan perniagaan yang lebih mampan dan memacu ke arah kemantapan ekonomi negara.
Landskap pelaburan di Malaysia sememangnya sudah berada di tahap membanggakan kerana setiap tahun angka tarikan pelaburan sama ada asing mahupun domestik mengalami pertumbuhan.
 
Negara merekodkan pelaburan berjumlah RM207.9 bilion sepanjang 2016 menerusi sektor perkilangan, perkhidmatan dan sektor utama, meningkat 7.7 peratus berbanding RM193 bilion bagi tahun sebelumnya.
 
Kesannya mudah dilihat berdasarkan penawaran pekerjaan kepada rakyat tempatan, selain peningkatan eksport negara apabila Malaysia menjadi hab perniagaan pelabur asing yang beroperasi di negara ini.
Pada masa sama, pelabur asing biasanya menilai sesuatu lokasi perniagaan mereka sebelum melabur bersandarkan kepada geopolitik yang stabil, ekonomi positif dan persekitaran yang boleh menyokong atau memudahkan operasi perniagaan mereka.
Selain itu, persekitaran mesra pelabur, pengangkutan awam yang moden dan efektif turut memainkan peranan penting bagi mencerminkan Malaysia sebuah lokasi perniagaan bertaraf antarabangsa.

Six Malaysian lawmakers will visit Europe next month to counter the European Union’s (EU) proposed resolution to curb the use of palm oil-based biofuel by 2020.
Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong (picture) said the September visit would come just after summer (in Europe) in order to leverage on the most number of EU lawmakers and officials.
“We are getting dates that are mutually agreeable to the most number of organisations and EU MPs.
“The purpose of our six MPs’ visit to Europe is to engage with them, answer their questions and clear their doubts…and to provide them with the full facts and figures on the palm oil industry,” he told a press conference after attending a luncheon organised by the EU-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.