MALAYSIA CALLS FOR CLOSE TIES WITH EU ON SUSTAINABILITY
Source from : Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has called for closer working relationship between the European Union (EU) and the producers of vegetable oils used in biofuels.

Malaysian Palm Oil Council's chief executive officer, Tan Sri Yusof Basiron, said Malaysia wanted to pursue a continued dialogue on sustainability and biodiversity.

"We recognise the importance of standards to ensure sustainability and we believe that the best way to achieve them is to engage directly with those who have to implement and enforce them on the ground," he said in a statement, here Friday.

Yusof was speaking at the World Biofuels Market Congress in Brussels.

He said there was an unfounded fear that palm biodiesel demand in the EU would prompt uncontrolled expansion of oil palm plantation in Malaysia, and thus further erode tropical forests.

"This is not the case. Malaysia has a stringent land use policy backed by legislation, and in fact Malaysia does a huge service in reducing global warming by having 60 per cent of its land under permanent forests and keeping less than 20 per cent for agriculture," he said.