On Tuesday 30 May, the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, in charge of the ‘European Green Deal’, Vice-President Virginijus Sinkevičius in charge of Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, and Josep Borrell, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, met with the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato' Sri Haji Fadillah Yusof, and Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, to discuss the recently approved EU regulation on supply chains that do not involve deforestation (see EUROPE 13183/17).
“The EU is committed to strengthening its engagement with partner countries to jointly tackle deforestation and forest degradation and improve deforestation-free value chains”, said the European Commission in a press release.
The EU, Indonesia and Malaysia have therefore pledged to work together to halt deforestation, specifically focussing on smallholders and extending the use of traceability tools.
“Stopping deforestation requires cooperation between countries that produce and countries that consume products that are frequently associated with deforestation. The EU recognises the efforts made by both countries to reduce deforestation”, concluded the Commission. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)