On 7 April 2014 Dato’ Zainol Abidin Omar, Ambassador of Malaysia to the Russian Federation delivered the welcoming remarks at a Press Conference on Palm Oil at the International Multimedia Press Center “Ria News” – Ria Novosti, one of Russia’s leading news agencies. This was the second press conference organized by the Regional Office of Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) in Moscow. The first press conference on palm oil was held during the visit of YB Dato’ Sri Douglas Uggah Embas, Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities to Moscow on 16 September 2013.
Amongst the guest speakers who were invited to this conference were Dr. Kalyana Sundram, Deputy Chief Executive Office of MPOC, Mr. Uthaya Kumar, Regional Manager of MPOC Regional Office in Brussels and other experts from Europe. The objective of the press conference was to disseminate accurate information about palm oil products as well as to provide clarifications to the Russian mass media about the negative misconceptions on palm oil. Malaysia is concerned about unjustified campaigns of misinformation on palm oil in Russia which could affect the image of palm oil and palm oil products in the Russian Federation.