PALMOILMAGAZINE, NANNING — At the 21st China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) in Nanning, China, Indonesia reaffirmed its commitment to green policies and sustainable development. On the second day of the expo, a Dialogue on China’s Green Policy was held, providing an opportunity for stakeholders from ASEAN and China to discuss green policies and sustainable supply chains in the region.
This dialogue, initiated by Indonesia, brought together various experts, including Musdalifah Machmud, Expert Staff in Service Development Connectivity and Natural Resources at Indonesia’s Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs; Yonghong Li, General Director of the Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center at China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment, who participated online; and Dr. Rizal Affandi Lukman, Secretary General of the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC), who joined virtually. Their involvement underscored the importance of discussions on green policies and sustainable supply chains in ASEAN and China.
Mardyana Listyowati, Director General of National Export Development at Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade, delivered the opening speech, highlighting the need for synergy between Indonesia and China in implementing green policies, particularly in the agricultural sector and sustainable commodities.
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“This meeting is a tangible demonstration of Indonesia’s support for China’s Green Policy, set to take effect on January 1, 2025,” Mardyana stated, as quoted by Palmoilmagazine.com on Thursday (26/9/2024).
Mardyana hoped the platform would make the network and collaboration beter between every stakeholder, namely to face China’s Green Value Chain that would be immediately implemented. She thought, the good cooperation between ASEAN and China would be very significant to confirm economic and environmental sustainability in the regions.
Musdalifah Machmud as the main speaker also explained that the green policies would be not only the global scale – trend but also the national scale – priority for Indonesia. “We have integrated green policies into many national scale – strategies, such as, Nationally Medium – Term Development Plans and environmental industrial policies,” she said.
She also said about Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) implementation as the way of the government to confirm that palm oil industries, one of main commodities in Indonesia, operate with the sustainable principles. ISPO standards were formulated to qualify the global scale – demands and maintain the environmental conservation.
Rizal Affandi Lukman denied the negative claims that often attached to palm oil plantations to every environmental damage. He thought, palm oil would be the most efficient and important plant to support renewable energy transition through the products, such as, biodiesel. B30 program in Indonesia that obliged to mix 30% biodiesel to diesel fuel, showed the strategic role of palm oil in the green energy agenda in Indonesia itself.
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Indonesia has implemented concrete things to support green policy implementation, starting from the regulation reinforcement until the increasing use of environmental technologies. “We keep supporting the synergy among the government, industries, and the people to confirm the balance of economic development and environmental conservation,” Musdalifah said.
She also mentioned that Indonesia would be ready to cooperate with China and ASEAN members to face the global scale – environmental issues, including to reinforce the knowledge and technology transfer in green supply chain.
Yonghong Li would be optimist that the cooperation would be closer between ASEAN and China in sustainable development. He thought, the policy ‘China Green Value Chain’ would positively deliver impacts, not only for the environment but also for the people’s welfare in the two regions.
In the end of her speech, Mardyana took every participant to attend the 39th Trade Expo Indonesia in October 2024 in Tangerang. TEI should be the moment to introduce the mainstay products from Indonesia, including sustainable palm oil and would open new business chances.
The green policy dialogue should be the moment for the two regions to reinforce the cooperation to face the global-scale challenges about environment and sustainable development. (P2)
