ANY follow-up action by Malaysia on the downing of flight MH17 will only be made the Dutch court delivers its verdict on the case on November 17.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob in a meeting with his counterpart from the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, on Friday, voiced Malaysia’s stance of wanting to be fair to all parties associated with the issue.

“This case has already been at the court level and the decision (is to be known) in November. We will wait for the decision. We will take action after the court’s ruling as MH17 involved many Dutch nationals as well as Malaysians,” he said at a press conference in New York City yesterday.

The two leaders were in the city to attend the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The District Court of The Hague will deliver its verdict on the MH17 case on November 17, where four individuals face 298 murder charges for their role in shooting down a Malaysian Airlines flight travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014.

The prime minister acknowledged that there was pressure on Malaysia to join several countries in taking action against Russia, which was accused of being involved in the downing of flight MH17 but reiterated that he will wait for the court’s ruling.

Ismail also said that the two countries agreed to increase bilateral relations, including trade and technical assistance to deal with flooding in Malaysia.

“We received advice from Dutch experts who came to Malaysia this year to help us following last year’s big flood. In the Netherlands, the sea is above the land, but they are able to control the flood,” he said.

In terms of trade, the Netherlands is the biggest buyer of palm oil in Europe while Malaysia imports a lot of agricultural products from the European country, he said. – Bernama, September 25, 2022.