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Keep calm and send your palm oil: EU brushes off concerns as Indonesia files WTO lawsuit
Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil producer, announced on Sunday the country had filed a lawsuit with the WTO against the EU’s palm oil policy, which it alleged to be “discriminatory” toward the nation’s palm oil.
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Harvest time: A worker gathers oil palm fruit bunches at a plantation in Lampung. Indonesia and Malaysia are the world's the first- and second-largest palm oil producers. (The Jakarta Post/R. Berto Wedhatama)
T
he European Union says Indonesia’a recent lawsuit against the regional bloc’s “discriminatory” palm oil policy would not affect shipments of the commodity or discussions over a landmark free trade deal between the two.
EU Ambassador to Indonesia Vincent Piket told The Jakarta Post that the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive II (RED II), which will phase out palm oil deemed unsustainable from the European biofuel market, is already “compatible” with World Trade Organization standards.
“We will engage in the consultations with Indonesia with sincerity and with the aim to resolve the matter positively. Meanwhile, our market is and will remain open for palm oil; there is no ban, contrary to what is sometimes said. The trade figures show it,” Piket wrote on Monday. The WTO, he added, is the right place to settle the dispute.
Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil producer, announced on Sunday the country had filed a lawsuit with the WTO against the EU’s palm oil policy, which it alleged to be “discriminatory” toward the nation’s palm oil.
Read also: Indonesia takes EU to WTO over ‘discriminatory’ palm oil policy
Piket also said that the litigation should not interfere with discussions over the Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA) as both are considered two separate matters. The key thing, he continued, is for both parties to continue to adhere to the WTO rules.
“In that way, we avoid a knock-on effect from the one onto the other. Both sides have a strong interest in putting in place a solid basis for a mutually beneficial economic agreement for the long term,” he said, refering to a possible landmark trade and investment deal between the two parties.
