Extracted from The Sarawak Tribune, 26 May 2004

Lim meets Europe's NGO over latest smear campaign on palm oil

KUALA LUMPUR - Primary Industries Minister Datuk Seri Lim Keng Yaik, who leads a two-week trade mission to Europe starting today, is expected to hold talks with northern Europe's non-governmental organisations (NGOs) over palm oil issues.

He is expected to clarify the latest smear campaign on palm oil that claimed oil palm plantations in South East Asia are causing vast deforestation on the tropical rainforest and endangering its wildlife especially the Orang Utan.

Dr. Lim said he would be meeting with Sweden's World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and NGOs, besides meeting with NGOs from Norway and Denmark to explain the country's forest and oil palm policies.

He said this at a press conference after the ground breaking of the Gerakan's second building PGRM 2 at its headquarters here yesterday in conjunction with the party's 35th anniversary celebration.

Dr. Lim, who is Gerakan president, said he would also be meeting the environment ministers from the three countries as well as Belgium's.

Dr. Lim said besides explaining to the European ministers the misunderstood issue on Malaysian palm oil, he would also brief them on the country's new timber certification, audited by an international auditing company, to ensure that the local timber came from sustainably managed forest.

The first leg of his trip would be to promote the country's timber industry at two international furniture shows, the Interzun Cologne 2003 and LIGNAplus Hannover 2003 in Germany, before going on to Belgium.

Dr. Lim said his team comprised of 40 people sponsored by the Malaysian Timber Council who included sawmillers, plywood manufacturers, furniture components manufacturers, and government officials. - Bernama