MALAYSIA and Indonesia have agreed to work on a common strategy in facing the European Union’s “discriminatory” palm oil policy that was passed in April.

The agreement is among several reached between Prime Minister Najib Razak and Indonesian President Joko Widodo during the two countries’ annual bilateral meeting in Kuching today.

Consensus was also reached on renewing security cooperation, and resolving outstanding border issues and those concerning Indonesian workers in Malaysia.

The passing of the Resolution on Palm Oil and Deforestation of Rainforests by the European Parliament was the main topic at the meeting, as the policy would make it increasingly difficult for Indonesia and Malaysia to export palm oil to the EU as it seeks to reduce the use of vegetable oils, including palm oil, that are not sustainably produced in biodiesel.

Under the policy, the bloc will import only palm oil supplied through sustainable methods after 2020.

Najib said in Malaysia, some 600,000 industry workers would be affected.

He said Malaysia had made its views on the matter known to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, and had held a briefing for all EU envoys in the country.

Indonesia is expected to do the same with EU envoys in the coming week.

The Indonesian Investments website reported that the EU policy would have a big impact on the country, which is the world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil, shipping between 15% and 20% of total palm oil exports to the EU, mostly the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Germany.

Palm oil is also one of the biggest foreign exchange earners for Indonesia, comprising 13.8%, or US$18.6 billion (RM76.6 billion), of total non-oil and gas exports last year.

Najib and Jokowi also agreed to release fishermen detained in Malaysia and Indonesia for alleged intrusion into each other’s territorial waters “as soon as possible”.

“They are poor people. It’s not fair to detain them any longer,” said Najib.

Other border-related matters that were agreed on include the speeding up of the formalisation of the Border Crossing Agreement, which would open up the Sarawak border town of Tebedu and Indonesia’s Entikong for cross-border trade and allow for a study to be conducted on the setting up of a free trade zone there for small and medium enterprises.

Najib said the two countries also agreed that there must be an end to the plight of the Rohingya, and that the community should be repatriated back in Myanmar.

He said he was heartened by the promise made by Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi at the recent Asean Summit in Manila, which showed that she was committed to finding a solution to the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine state.

Earlier, Najib and Jokowi witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two countries on cooperation in Islamic higher education.

The MoU was signed by Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid and Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. – November 22, 2017.