Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government is harboring expectations that the Netherlands can aid in solving the issue pertaining to discrimination against Indonesian palm oil products in Europe.
The Netherlands' support to sustainable palm oil management in Indonesia is through a capacity building program for palm oil farmers.
The capacity-building cooperation was marked by the inking of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Dutch and Indonesian governments in New York, the United States, on Sept 26.
"Hence, the Netherlands' effort aims to ensure that Indonesian palm oil products entering the country come from sustainable sources," Indonesian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Teuku Faizasyah, remarked after attending a public discussion involving Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Jakarta on Monday.
In recent times, Indonesia's palm oil exports have borne the brunt of the European Union’s ban on the entry of palm oil products into member countries owing to environmental issues.
To this end, the Indonesian government continues to deepen its diplomacy to fight discrimination against palm oil products in Europe.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) has remarked that palm oil exports to Europe in 2018 had plummeted to 4.8 million tons, or US$3 billion, from $3.5 billion in the previous year.
The Netherlands ranks among the three main destination countries for Indonesia's palm oil exports, reaching 1.2 million tons in 2018.
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