EUMCCI hopes for resumption of EU-Malaysia FTA

KUALA LUMPUR: The EU-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EUMCCI) hopes that the Malaysian government will resume negotiations on the proposed European Union (EU)Malaysia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as soon as possible.

“(After) talking to the businesses and companies, we see there are desirable things and advantages that the EU and Malaysia could achieve going forward.

“We have also examined some of the studies that the EU commission has done to prove the effectiveness of a possible FTA between Malaysia and the EU,” EUMCCI chief executive officer Roberto Benetello told reporters on the sidelines of the EUMalaysia Trade and Investment Forum 2019 yesterday.

The one- day forum was organised by EUMCCI, aimed at providing a high-level dialogue opportunity for the business community to meet Malaysian policymakers and government representatives.

Meanwhile, Ambassador of France to Malaysia, Frederic Laplanche said it was a common interest of the EU in Malaysia to find a positive outcome from the current FTA discussions.

(After) talking to the businesses and companies, we see there are desirable things and advantages that the EU and Malaysia could achieve going forward. Roberto Benetello, EUMCCI chief executive officer

“I am sure that the Malaysian government is taking a balanced and very active policy on this subject such as the oil palm plantations and its sustainability.

“I am convinced that we will able to find positive outcomes from this discussion,” he said.

Earlier, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Darell Leiking said the suspension of the Malaysia– EU FTA and the Malaysia- European Trade Association Partnership was due to the imbalanced treatment of Malaysian palm oil and related products in the negotiations.

“EU was the largest market for Malaysian palm oil and palm oil-based products in 2018, while the top three destinations for Malaysia’s palm oil exports in the EU were the Netherlands (50 per cent), Spain (17 per cent) and Italy (12 per cent).

“Malaysia remains highly committed to preserving its nature while protecting the livelihoods of its people and hopes that the discrimination on palm oil, and singling out palm oil in the name of deforestation will stop,” he said in his speech at the opening of the forum.

The text of his speech was delivered the Ministry of International Trade and Industry deputy secretary-general (trade) Datuk Seri Norazman Ayob.

He said Malaysia would also continuously express its concerns to the World Trade Organisation to ensure any unfair and discriminatory practices against Malaysian palm oil is addressed.

“We have seen efforts by Asean to emphasise concerns on the palm oil issue through several statements under the Asean Economic and Asean PoliticalSecurity Pillars.

“Asean and EU had also established a Joint Working Group to address issues relating to palm oil,” he added. — Bernama