THE United Kingdom will follow closely Malaysia’s effort to ensure its palm oil industry is sustainable and does not cause damage to the environment, said Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the UK Jeremy Hunt. 

Speaking at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah after calling on the latter at Wisma Putra today, Hunt said he took the opportunity to learn about Malaysia’s effort on the matter during their discussion.

“It was good to have the opportunity of hearing the progress that Malaysia is making and in that respect, the UK will follow very closely,” he said when asked on the UK’s position concerning the European Union decision to phase out palm oil by 2030. 

Hunt is on a two-day working visit to Malaysia beginning today.

Hunt said Malaysia was his first trip for this year, as it was a country that the UK has deep ties of commerce, diplomacy and also friendship with going back hundreds of years.  

“Malaysia is a good place for the UK to demonstrate the depth of our connection with countries all over the world as we plot our post-Brexit course,” he said.

Hunt said he and Saifuddin had a good discussion on how to strengthen trade between the two countries despite the “ups and downs” of Brexit. 

Saifuddin said the ties between Kuala Lumpur and London had always been good, with trade between the two countries for the past 10 years recorded at between RM12 and RM17 billion per year. 

“I have told Hunt that Malaysia has been following – with a lot of interest – the Brexit issue and Malaysia looks forward to further cooperation and engagement, for example in furthering Malaysia’s democratisation process of the new administration after the general election,” he added. 

Saifuddin said Malaysia also welcomed the offer by the British government to assist the country in its governmental reform agenda, in particular its transformation of the civil service. 

“There are 16,500 Malaysians studying in the UK and I believe the number will grow bigger in times to come. Malaysia has always valued the quality of UK education and that is the reason why many Malaysians study in the UK. Some of them on government sponsorship,” he said. – Bernama, January 3, 2019.