KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong, Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities held a bilateral meeting with Hon. Mr. Sontirat Sontijirawong, Thai Minister of Commerce at Kuala Lumpur. 

The closed meeting was also joined by high ranking executives from both ministries, and discussed the issues related to commodity-based trading industries such as oil palm and rubber.

On the oil palm commodity, Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong applauded the Thai government’s cooperation with Malaysia and Indonesia in rejecting the European Union’s executive decision on adopting the trade barrier against palm oil as part of their official legislation.

Thailand’s keenness to respond also portrays the agreement and firmness of major palm oil producing countries in fighting against the continuous prejudice and oppression by the EU on oil palm commodities.

Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong affirmed that Thailand’s commitment also proves that Malaysia is not alone in protecting the interests of 3 million oil palm smallholders in the ASEAN region, and the effort of campaigning against the EU resolution is gaining strong support from other palm oil producing countries. 

Aside from that, Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong described the joint statement made during the recent meeting between ASEAN foreign ministers as a consistent stance that is in line with the spirit of unity among ASEAN member states. The statement called for continued support for the development of sustainable oil palm industries.

ASEAN’s major oil palm producing counties like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand will use all available resources to oppose the trade barrier by the EU Parliament, including through the ASEAN framework.

On the previous ASEAN summit in Manila last year, heads of ASEAN countries released a joint statement to support the development of sustainable oil palm industries. This statement was also brought to the attention of the EU President, Donald Tusk by Malaysia’s Prime Minister, YAB Dato’ Seri Muhammad Najib Bin Tun Razak with the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo.

For the rubber industries, the discussion from both parties focused on the steps to stabilize global rubber prices.

In this regard, Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong gave his assurance that Malaysia will honour the rubber export quota as agreed according to the Agreed Export Tonnage Scheme (AETS) made during the International Rubber Tripartite Countries (ITRC) on 22hb December 2017.

During the meeting, the three ITRC countries agreed to limit the export of natural rubber to 350,000 tonnes for the first three months of 2018. The readiness of ITRC countries in obliging the stated quota is important in ensuring this mechanism will bring a positive impact towards global natural rubber prices. 

Apart from being the largest rubber producer and exporter globally, Thailand is also the third largest producer of palm oil, with an estimated production of almost 2.5 million tonnes in 2017.

DATUK SERI MAH SIEW KEONG
MINISTER OF PLANTATION INDUSTRIES AND COMMODITIES

SOURCE : Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities 

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--BERNAMA