Interview with H.E. Dato’ Mohd Khalid Abbasi Abdul, Ambassador of Malaysia to Belgium

In an interview with EU Reflect, the Ambassador discussed Malaysia's compliance with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), the country's national sustainability certification scheme (MSPO), and the importance of maintaining access to the European market. He also addressed the ongoing negotiations for an EU–Malaysia Free Trade Agreement, outlining the main outstanding issues and expressing hope that an agreement could be finalised in 2027. The interview offers insight into how Malaysia is seeking to defend the competitiveness of one of its key export industries while strengthening its broader trade relations with the European Union.

Interview:

EU Reflect: Hi everyone, welcome to this wonderful event organised by the Ambassador and the Embassy of Malaysia in Brussels on palm oil. Thank you very much for organising this event. Ambassador, what were the main goals of this event?

H.E. Dato’ Mohd Khalid Abbasi Abdul: Thank you very much to you, Delia, from EU Reflect. Certainly, as you said, we did this thing for the very first time. We did a culinary showcase with Malaysian palm oil, where we want to portray the richness of Malaysian palm oil in food.

We have cooked live some of the finger food, like curry puff, and we did our all-time favourite, nasi lemak. We also have a special drink, we call it teh tarik, where the condensed milk is from palm oil.

But what I want to portray is that we did, for the very first time, Belgian fries fried with palm oil. Because we want to show you the richness and the taste when you use palm oil to fry for your daily usage.

EU Reflect: And since we know that the EUDR will be effective by 31 December for big and large companies, is Malaysia ready for it?

H.E. Dato’ Mohd Khalid Abbasi Abdul: Okay, very good question. I think the whole idea of today’s event also is to say and to tell to the European friends that we in Malaysia fully comply with the EUDR. That’s one.

Number two, we don’t do deforestation, we don’t actually kill so-called orangutans. We do everything sustainably and it’s been proven here.

So, for the past 10 years, we are doing efforts to better our palm oil sector. And I can share with you, in Malaysia we have this what we call MSPO, Malaysia Sustainable Palm Oil Certification, which has been proven as strong as RSPO of the EU.

So we have taken many efforts, we have proved to the world, and I can just report to you: 17% of Malaysia’s exports to the EU are palm oil and palm oil products. If you say Malaysia has some problem, certainly I don’t think the Europeans are going to buy our palm oil.

And to make it short, I believe my fellow Europeans wake up and even go to bed with Malaysian palm oil.

EU Reflect: Thank you very much. And we know that Malaysia has had five FTA talks with the EU. Do you think that we will reach an agreement by next year?

H.E. Dato’ Mohd Khalid Abbasi Abdul: Okay, thank you again. Very good question. I think on the free trade agreement with the European Union, we restarted this in 2025.

And in just a span of one year plus, we already have five talks. The last talk, I think, happened here, then the next round will be in Kuala Lumpur in January.

Yes, a big question mark: will we be able to finalise by 2027? Yes, it’s really something that we are really hoping for.

But for me, an FTA is a very important trade agreement. And for me, it should be, first, political will. Second, it should be a win-win situation. Thirdly, it must complement the needs of both sides.

So I think, if the EU can actually see that, in a bigger picture, Malaysia is willing to do it. But there are some issues that we need to settle, like on automotive, on the issue of EUDR, and also government procurement. So we are actually talking to each other.

And if everything goes well, by the grace of God, next year, I think in June or July, we will be ready to finalise it. And probably by November, we can really ratify this.

EU Reflect: Thank you very much for this wonderful event and delicious food.

H.E. Dato’ Mohd Khalid Abbasi Abdul: Thank you very much, Ambassador.

EU Reflect: See you soon.

H.E. Dato’ Mohd Khalid Abbasi Abdul: Okay, bye.

EU Reflect: Bye.