On 19 May 2016, H.E. Dato’ Ibrahim Abdullah, Ambassador of Malaysia to France had a meeting with Mr. Christian Jacob, Member of the Commission for Sustainable Development and Territorial Planning, and President of the conservative group in the French National Assembly.
The meeting was called at the request of Mme. Christina Storoni, Deputy Director in the Cabinet of Mr. Christian Jacob in lieu of their previous arranged meeting with the late YBhg. Datuk Dr Sundaran Annamalai, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (KSU MPIC); and YB Dato’ Ar. Wan Mohammad Khairi-il Anuar Wan Ahmad, Chairman of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board and Member of Parliament Kuala Kangsar (Chairman MPOB) on 26 April 2016 that was cancelled.
During the meeting, Ambassador announced the continued reality of a changed and unfamiliar territory where KSU MPIC and Chairman MPOB will no longer be lending their voices on palm oil issues. The French side offered their condolences. In the course of the discussions, Ambassador was able to highlight the best practices of Malaysia in the palm oil industry. This includes exploring bio-pest control i.e. usage of owls to control the rat population as an alternative to insecticides and pesticides. He also expounded that Malaysia is practicing bio-pollination methods such as using weevils instead of depending on fertilisers and hand pollination.
Ambassador also emphasized that Malaysia will not be opening up more land for the purposes of expanding palm oil plantations and will show the next stage of innovation by bringing our game to a different level and increase production by replanting with higher yielding clones. Since Malaysia has this capability, plantations have moved towards the re-plantation of palm oil instead of expanding the plantation into new areas.
The importance of the palm oil industry in Malaysia as a vehicle to eradicate poverty was also called to attention by Ambassador. Overall the meeting proved to be extremely informative, productive, and valuable.
