26/09/2012 (Bernama) - The recent palm oil mission to France and Romania is expected to boost exports of Malaysian palm oil to European countries, said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.

Dompok, who led the eight-day mission early this month, said it was highly successful as it will not only further enhance business opportunities but also capitalise on the opportunities in palm oil trade in the European market.

"I am happy that we managed to clear the misconceptions on the palm oil industry, especially among the French, and the Malaysian and French governments have also agreed to form a bilateral working group for the industry to tackle the palm oil issues," he told Bernama recently.

He said the meeting with France's Minister for Agriculture, Agrifood and Forest, Stephane Le Foll, was a fruitful and productive discussion, covering bilateral issues on palm oil.

"We both agreed that a working group needs to be formed soon to understand the issues and plan appropriate actions to resolve the issues related to palm oil," he said.

Later, Dompok also had a bilateral meeting with France's Special Diplomacy Advisor to the President, Paul Jean-Ortiz, at the Presidential Palace in Paris.

The Malaysian delegation, which included Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) Chairman Datuk Lee Yeow Chor, its Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron and Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) Director-General Datuk Dr Choo Yuen May, also had a roundtable meeting with palm oil importers, retailers and manufacturers in France.

Dompok said the palm oil industry has received much negative coverage in the print and electronic media in France lately due to a campaign led by environmentally-inclined non-governmental organisations, addding one of the mission's objectives was to erase the misconceptions.

"Much negative sentiment has been passed about uncontrolled expansion of oil palm plantations in Malaysia and fears that these would compromise our well preserved pristine rainforests.

"Following our commitment to the United Nations to maintain at least 50 per cent of our land area under permanent forest cover, we currently have 56 per cent or 18.5 million hectares of our total land area under forest and national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and nature reserves," he said.

He added that oil palm plantations in Malaysia occupy less than 13 per cent of Malaysia's total land area.

In Romania, Dompok was elated over the encouraging response from Malaysian and Romanian firms to seal deals at the first Malaysia-Romania Palm Oil Trade Fair and Seminar 2012 (Romania POTS 2012).

He said the Romania POTS has achieved its objectives of developing and optimising business opportunities for Malaysian palm oil in Eastern Europe and the neighbouring Commonwealth of Independent States countries.

"POTS Romania is designed to strengthen business ties between our countries and I am still optimistic that there are ample opportunities for the private sectors of Malaysia and Romania to further explore new business ventures," he said.

The Romania POTS was organised by MPOC and MPOB with the support of the Bucharest Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Dompok also said that the Romanian government has shown interest to cooperate with Malaysia in developing an entry port for palm oil in the country's third largest city, Constanta.

He said the Romanian Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, Ovidiu Ioan Silaghi, had expressed the interest during the bilateral meeting.

"He has agreed for further discussions on that matter, and we hope the discussions will result in the setting up of the palm oil entry port in Constanta," he said.

Dompok also had bilateral meetings with the Minister Delegate for Business Environment for the Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Business Environment Voicu Mihai Alexandru and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Daniel Constantin.

Romania imported 4,846 tonnes of Malaysian palm oil last year with Malaysia being the main supplier.

Malaysia's bilateral trade with Romania rose 36.6 per cent to 36.8 million euros in 2011.

Malaysia's main exports to Romania are manufactured goods, including electrical and electronic products, processed food, machinery, appliances and parts, non-metallic mineral products and chemicals and chemical products.