‘NO BAN ON PALM OIL’
It is cheap, sustainable, says German ambassador to Malaysia
THE German Ambassador to Malaysia Nikolaus Graf Lambsdorff has assured Germany will not ban palm oil trade from Malaysia.
He said the country needed the crop export as it is cheap, environment-friendly and sustainable.
“Germany is not going to ban the palm oil trade from countries like Malaysia. However, other European countries have been talking about reducing and maybe stopping the use of the natural resource.
“Malaysia needs the market from the palm oil trade too. We
need palm oil as it is cheap and sustainable.
“Malaysia should also reduce its dependency on palm oil and maybe should stop using it in the next few years to come as many other European countries are following suit,” he said.
Lambsdorff said this during his visit to the New Straits Times Press headquarters in Bangsar here yesterday.
Last week, Bernama reported that French Ambassador to Malaysia Frederic Laplanche said the European Union (EU) and France were not the enemies of palm oil.
Laplanche said the market would continue to be open for the crop as the new Malaysian government upholds its policies in safeguarding the environment.
He acknowledged that palm oil’s long association with deforestation and destruction had damaged its image, but things were changing.
Lambsdorff was accompanied by the embassy’s deputy head of mission Dr David Krivanek, culture and press officers Norlis Simaa Mohd Ali and Sandra Yap. The entourage was greeted by
Berita Harian (BH) group editor Khaidir A. Majid, Harian Metro
(HM) group editor Tuan Mohamad Asri Tuan Hussein, New
Straits Times (NST) Business and Op-Ed Digital executive editor Ahmad Lokman Mansor, NST Editorial Business and Lifestyle executive editor Fauziah Ismail, BH foreign editor V. Asokan and HM Global editor Rozimi Hashim.
At the hour-long closed-door meeting, Lambsdorff was briefed by Khaidir on the current NSTP system and news deliverance.
Lambsdorff praised NSTP for delivering fresher and adopting a lot of changes in news deliverance compared with the deliverance under the previous administration.
“I started reading NST after May 11 (last year). I noticed major changes in the news compared with the previous years.
“There are a lot of new things being reported in the newspaper and it gives a pretty good picture of what is happening in Malaysia. You are helping us every day,” he said.
Khaidir said NSTP was still undergoing going through a transition period and hoped to several make and hoping to make major changes in the coming years.
Among other topics discussed were German-Malaysian Institute, Malaysia’s inactivity in multilateral Asean and free trade agreement.
After the meeting, Lambsdorff and his entourage toured NSTP’s newsroom.
Lambsdorff was appointed as the German Ambassador to Malaysia on July 2017.