Malaysia To Help COPAL
Malaysia will help members of the Cocoa Producers Alliance (Copal) develop a standard certification for cocoa beans, which will further enhance their quality, said Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Hamzah Zainudin.
Copal, which has ten members, namely Brazil, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Dominican Republic, Gabon, Ghana, Malaysia, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe and Togo, accounts for almost 80 per cent of total world cocoa production.
"We will use Malaysia's Standard Malaysian Cocoa as a reference. We hope to be able to come up with something before Copal's special meeting in March," he told reporters after the 73rd Council of Ministers of Copal meeting here Friday.
Gabon and Sao Tome and Principe were absent from the meeting.
Hamzah said ten resolutions were approved during the meeting and a secretariat would be set up to oversee the development of the certification.
He said Malaysia would be Copal's representative to invite Indonesia to join as a member.
"We will extend the invitation by Copal to Indonesia during our meeting with the agriculture ministry in January. With Indonesia onboard, we will account for 90 per cent of total world cocoa production," he said.
Hamzah said Brazil has expressed interest to strengthen bilateral ties with Malaysia through cooperation in cocoa, oil palm and rubber sectors.
The interest was presented to Hamzah via a letter from Brazil's ministry of agriculture.
"They are interested in sharing our research in cocoa bean grinding capacity, rubber as well as oil palm.
"We will bring the matter to the minister for follow-up," he said.
Malaysia is among top countries in terms of world cocoa grinding capacity, controlling about 15 per cent of total world cocoa grinding capacity of 3.5 million tonnes - BERNAMA