Luhut: Indonesia Succeed in Negotiating Palm Oil With the EU

COORDINATING Minister of Maritime Affairs Luhut B. Padjaitan doesn’t see European Union policy on phasing out the use of palm oil fuels from 2030 as a big problem. On contrary, he considers it as a success of Indonesian delegation in lobbying the European Union. “I think we have succeeded on palm oil issues because the EU delayed to phase out until 2030. The EU’s ban is aimed at plants cultivated on peat land or on eco-unfriendly land. Palm oil produced from that kind of plants are not allowed to enter the EU. That’s fair enough,” said Luhut in his office. According to him, there is only a few of them cultivated on eco-unfriendly land. “We have about 12 millions hectares of oil palm plantation and only 1,5 millions hectares of them are eco-unfriendly. Let’s say 10 millions hectares of them are clean, those are still enough for fus.” Luhut said Indonesia will continue negotiating on criteria of crude palm oil (CPO) allowed to enter EU’s market. The government will also send a delegation to proactively engage with EU’s team to discuss those criteria. Luhut has contacted EU ambassador to Indonesia Vincent Guerend concering that team. “We don’t want them to control us. Indonesia is a big nation. I told Ambassador Guerend that Indonesian team has to involve. He agreed.” ***