Palm | Kelapa Sawit

This newstory was published in Xinhua website, the Republic of China's national newswire service provider.

Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak called on skeptics who doubt the country's compliance of plantation standards to inspect its oil palm plantations.

"Skeptics who do not think that Malaysian oil palms are cultivated and harvested in way that meets the highest standards of sustainability should come and visit us, see if there are gaps in our governance and standards," he said.

"Help us repair those gaps, should they exist," Najib said at the Malaysia-Europe Forum while addressing some 300 participants in Kuala Lumpur. Also present were Malaysia-Europe Forum patron and advisor Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz and Sime Darby Bhd chairman Tun Musa Hitam.

As the top palm oil exporter in the world, Malaysia inevitably attracts attention. This include unfounded criticisms, from various quarters, of allowing deforestation to take place for the development of oil palm plantations.

Najib said Malaysia and Europe needed to enhance their understanding of one another, of how they operated, how they perceived the world and how they did business. "By this, I mean to recognise there are fundamental differences between and Anglo-Saxon business model, which is how the European Union (EU) is organised, and the Asian business model," added Najib.

Recognising the EU as a responsible leader in setting quality standards in various industries, Najib urged Malaysian companies to work with their EU counterparts to resolve their differences and make improvements.

Najib also noted that the EU was important to Malaysia as it was the country's fourth largest trading partner in 2008, with total trade amounted to US$41 billion.

The Malaysia-Europe Forum aims to promote Malaysia in Europe and vice-versa through the exchange of views, furthering of mutual interests and enhancement of links between and among European and Malaysian stakeholders at a non-governmental level.