SPOSI KEHATI participated As A Speaker At The Workshop Entitled Vegetable Oil Diplomacy, Encouraging Acceptance of Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) Standards Abroad, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Director SPOS Indonesia Program, Irfan Bakhtiar, with Senior Advisor, Diah Suradiredja, were representatives of KEHATI Foundation as speakers at the workshop organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Workshop entitled Vegetable Oil Diplomacy, Encouraging Acceptance of Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) Standards Abroad.

The Directorate of Trade, Industry, Commodities, and Intellectual Property (PPKKI) delivered welcoming remarks to the participants and speakers. This agenda is a collaboration between the PPKKI Directorate of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Amerop KSIA Directorate by presenting Indonesian representatives in European and American Countries. This forum was held to provide diplomats about one of Indonesia’s main trade interests, palm oil, in dealing with various negative campaigns in market countries.

The keynote speech by the Director General of Multilateral Cooperation again underlined the importance of diplomats mastering the issues of vegetable oil and promoting ISPO as a system built by the Indonesian government. The Director General conveyed the tendency of discriminatory policies from Europe and America towards palm oil.

The exposure session consisted of 2 (two) sessions on August 25, 2022, for Indonesian diplomats in the European region. In the first session, Diah Suradiredja, as a representative of KEHATI, had the opportunity to convey the strategic role of ISPO in supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The results of the identification of the SPOS Indonesia KEHATI team, 7 ISPO principles have the potential to contribute to the achievement of the 12 Goals in the SDGs, Goals 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 6, 12, 13, 15 and 16. The most significant potential contribution is towards the goals of decent work and economic growth (Goal 8), responsible production-consumption (Goal 12), and protection of terrestrial ecosystems (Goal 15). Diah also emphasized that ISPO is mandatory ISPO is Indonesia’s commitment to providing a sustainable supply of palm oil to the market. Diah also said that Europe, with the EU and UK Due Diligence regulation, put pressure on them and the EU Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (EU CEPA) process, which was discontinued due to the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapter.

In the second session on 26 August 2022 for Indonesian diplomats in the Americas region, the material on ISPO’s strategic role in supporting the achievement of the SDGs was presented by Irfan Bakhtiar. Irfan also conveyed the trend of palm oil imports in the Americas, the existence of Colombia as a competitor and a partner, and the negative campaign that accompanied the increase in palm oil exports to America. In addition, the description of deforestation caused by palm oil, an issue always discussed in the market, is also about the solution of oil palm in forest areas. Also presented are notes on ISPO in terms of its achievements or its contribution to the SDGs. These records also come from actual conditions in the field and data carried out by the SPOSI KEHATI program.

In addition to inviting speakers from representatives of the KEHATI Foundation, there were speakers from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Indonesian ISPO Secretariat, and the Indonesian Coordinating Ministry for the Economy.