MoU On Agriculture Strengthens Malaysia-Indonesia Relations

The `Developing 8` Agreement Signing

Putrajaya - Malaysia and Indonesia are set to strengthen their relations further particularly in the field of agriculture through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to be signed during the three-day Developing 8 (D8) ministerial meeting here.

Agriculture and Agro-based Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed said the MoU would cover, among other things, exchange of technical expertise and resources.

"The collaboration is timely as Indonesia has been successful in the field of agriculture and has high self-subsistence level in rice and meat productions.

"Indonesia is also able to meet the domestic demand for livestock feed even though previously the country is among major importers of the material," he said when met recently.

Mustapa will be signing the MoU on behalf of Malaysia while his counterpart, Dr Ir Anton Apriyanto, on behalf of the republic.

Apart from the MoU signing, Malaysia is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with several countries at the senior officials‘ level.

Among leaders expected at the meeting are Turkish Agriculture Minister Mehmet Mehdi Eker, Iranian Agriculture Minister Mohammad Reza Eskandari and Egyptian Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza.

The meeting is mooted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi during the 6th D8 Summit in Kuala Lumpur last July in the wake of the food shortage crisis early last year and the drastic increase in the prices of foodstuff.

Besides Malaysia, other D8 members are Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan dan Turkey.

Source: Bernama.com
>Photo Credit: Developing8.org

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