EU and Malaysia hold the 8th Senior Officials' Meeting
The EU and Malaysia held a Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) at the premises of the EU Delegation in Kuala Lumpur on 1 August.
The Senior Officials' Meeting covered a broad range of issues of mutual interest. They welcomed the upcoming EU-ASEAN Summit as an opportunity to enhance, besides the regional, the bilateral EU-Malaysia relations as well. It was agreed to step up cooperation notably in the areas of trade and investment, security, human rights, economy, climate change, environment and forests, energy security and renewable energy and sustainable supply chains. The progress towards signature of the Malaysia-EU Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) was welcomed, aiming to sign the agreement in the margins of the EU-ASEAN Summit in December in Brussels. Participants also confirmed they remained interested in a possible future resumption of trade negotiations once the conditions are right.
On palm oil, participants recalled the Second Joint Working Group meeting on Palm Oil, which took place on 28 June. In this context, they welcomed the constructive discussions and reaffirmed the importance of continuous engagement to promote sustainability efforts and practices in the vegetable oil sector, including palm oil, and other possible collaboration, with a view to strengthening mutual understanding, both in this and other fora.
The dialogue also covered security challenges, global developments and regional issues, among others, the situation in Myanmar, the South China Sea and Afghanistan. The EU and Malaysia expressed their indignation about the execution of democracy activists in Myanmar and agreed to intensify mutual efforts to restore democracy in Myanmar. As regards the Middle East and Palestine, they had a thorough discussion on the challenges that lie ahead. On Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the EU reiterated its strong condemnation of Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, which violates key norms and principles of international law, as expressed in the UN Charter. Moreover, the EU stressed that the current disruptions in the food and energy supply chains are solely caused by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The EU is fully committed to work with global partners, including Malaysia, in addressing the food crisis caused by Russia and facilitating Ukrainian grain exports.
The meeting was co-chaired by Mr Gunnar Wiegand, Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific in the European External Action Service (EEAS) and Dato’ Cheong Loon Lai, Deputy Secretary General of Multilateral Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia. They agreed to hold the 9th Senior Officials’ Meeting in 2023.