The statement was made by the Deputy I of Maritime Sovereignty Coordination from the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs, Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, during a panel discussion in Jakarta on Friday on the EU`s plans to ban the use of palm oil in biofuels.
"What we would want is not to push or force the EU to use palm oil. Rather, we want to have fair treatment between palm oil and other vegetable oils," said Sadewa.
He said the EU`s policy seemed aimed only at palm oil, rather than covering all vegetable oils.
Plans by the European Union to ban the use of palm oil in biofuels has raised concerns for an industry worth billions of dollars to Indonesia. The country is the world`s largest palm oil producer, followed by Malaysia and India. Sadewa said the industry had helped millions crawl out of poverty and, to this day, millions depended on palm oil production for their livelihood.
Thus, for Indonesia, the issues surrounding palm oil would almost automatically become a national discourse, tied to the livelihood of millions of farmers.
"There are many Indonesians who work and depend on the palm oil industry," he pointed out.
As the top producer of palm oil, it was important for Indonesia to ensure continuous access to all of its consumers, especially in the European Union as it is one of the most important markets that could create a global trend.
Also present as panelists in the discussion were the European Union Ambassador to Indonesia, Vincent Guerend, the Executive Director of the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries, Mahendra Siregar, and the Country Director for IDH-The Sustainable Trade Initiative, Fitrian Adriansyah.
(T.KR-ARC/INE/B003)
(T.KR-ARC/A/KR-BSR/B003)
Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
