Tehran, Iran, January 25
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Malaysia is going to hold a conference and exhibition on palm oil in Tehran, which is to be attended by Iranian Minister of Agriculture Mahmoud Hojjati as a keynote speaker, Mehr news agency reported January 25.
Previously, President Hassan Rouhani’s administration limited the import of palm oil to Iran due to health issues that the palm oil causes. Iran used to consume 750 thousand tons of palm oil before Rouhani restricted the imports in 2014.
Rouhani traveled to Malaysia in early October to discuss “restoration of mutual relations” with that country’s Prime Minister Najib Razak.
While lots of cliché areas of cooperation such as energy and banking were reviewed during the visit, an interesting issue was raised during a joint press conference between the two leaders, which was the import of palm oil import from Malaysia.
“We are waiting for a delegation from Malaysia in Tehran to explain the health aspects of palm oil,” Rouhani said.
This is while the Malaysian prime minister pushed things further, saying the Malaysian Palm Oil Council will soon set up an office in Tehran.
This is while in 2014, the Health Ministry waged a huge barrage of criticism at the previous government for importing too much palm oil and fed it up to people.
