During his stay, which began on Thursday the 31st of May, Tolgfors met with Dato’ Ahmad Hunsi Hanadzlah, Malaysian Deputy Minister of Trade, for follow-up talks on the recently initiated free trade negotiations between EU and ASEAN. During their talks, Tolgfors emphasized the importance of multilateral free trade agreements and introduced his initiative to bring trade barriers for bio fuels to an end, which received Malaysian support.
Tolgfors also met business representatives from both Sweden and Malaysia. In a speech at a business luncheon forum at Bankers Club in Kuala Lumpur titled “The Relevance of Free Trade Agreements in a Global World”, Tolgfors addressed an audience representing Malaysian ministries, governmental agencies and businessmen. Later that day, at a reception hosted by the Swedish Ambassador Helena Sångeland, Tolgfors also met with representatives from some of the around ninety Sweden-related companies that operate in Malaysia.
On the last day of his visit, Tolgfors met with Mr. Andrew Ng, Secretary-General of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. During the meeting, Mr. Andrew expressed his organization’s interest in a closer co-operation with Sweden in creating a world market for bio fuels.
