Indonesia, Malaysia Agree to Fight “Discrimination” Against Palm Oil

The world biggest producers of palm oil, Indonesia and Malaysia, agreed on January 09 to work together to fight ‘discrimination’ against the commodity after a meeting between leaders from the countries, The Jakarta Post reported on Monday this week.  

The comments by President Joko Widodo followed a meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who was making his first overseas trip since being elected last November. It is customary that the first foreign visit of a new Malaysian premier take place in neighboring Indonesia, which counts Kuala Lumpur as its fifth biggest export market. 

Jokowi said the two countries would ‘fight discrimination against palm oil’ and ‘strengthen cooperation through the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries’ to address concern.  During the bilateral meeting, Anwar and Jokowi signed eight memorandum of understanding covering shipping, export-import financing, green energy, the development of battery industry, which they said they hoped would deepen cross border trade and investment.