10th AUGUST 2018: Minister of Primary Industries YB Teresa Kok received a courtesy call from French Ambassador to Malaysia H.E. Frédéric Laplanche at her office today.
During their meeting, His Excellency expressed his Government’s keenness to have a working cooperation with Malaysia to ensure market accessibility into Europe for sustainably-produced palm oil.
Laplanche also stressed that France’s stand was that palm oil should be treated fairly like other oils in the world market but that sustainability must be emphasised.
The ambassador’s delegation included scientists and researchers from CIRAD, the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development that works for the sustainable development of tropical and Mediterranean regions. Laplanche also extended cooperation in the area of research to help existing oil palm plantations with better, high-yield clonal material for oil palm cultivation.
His Excellency also proposed a ministerial level meeting or dialogue to be held in France during YB Teresa’s planned trip to Europe in October this year.
Both of them later exchanged gifts. Laplanche presented a bottle of French syrup made in Malaysia while YB Teresa gave His Excellency a gift basket with Sarawak pepper products.