KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu received a courtesy call from the Argentine Foreign Minister, Diana Mondino, yesterday.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (KPKM) in a statement today said that the inaugural meeting between the two leaders was held to discuss cooperation in bilateral trade, halal certification and the livestock and agriculture sectors.

According to KPKM, Mohamad welcomes any technical cooperation in the field of agricultural research and modernisation in addition to emphasising the potential of some Malaysian products to be exported to the South American country, such as value-added animal products and insect protein-based animal feed.

Representatives of the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) who were present at the meeting also offered training and consultation services to the halal certification body in Argentina to facilitate conformity with Malaysian halal standards.

"The Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi) expressed its intention to renew the existing collaboration between Mardi and the National Institute of Agricultural and Livestock Technology, Argentina (Inta) through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which was signed in October 2019 and is due to expire in October this year.

"Mondino welcomed the intention, and stated that there were many more potential collaborations that could be explored through the MoU between the two parties,” read the statement.

According to KPKM, Mohamad also invited Mondino to attend the 2024 Malaysia Agriculture, Horticulture and Agrotourism (Maha) exhibition which will be held this September and invited Argentina to participate in the biennial event. — Bernama