Malaysia to send food to UAE as token of gratitude
CORONAVIRUS | Malaysia will donate eight tonnes of food to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), says Deputy Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs minister Rosol Wahid.
The donation is in return of the country's Covid-19 test kits donation to Malaysia which has implemented the movement control order due to the pandemic.
CORONAVIRUS | Malaysia will donate eight tonnes of food to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), says Deputy Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs minister Rosol Wahid.
The donation is in return of the country's Covid-19 test kits donation to Malaysia which has implemented the movement control order due to the pandemic.
"UAE donated Covid-19 test kits to us and we reply by sending them food as a show of gratitude," he told the media at a food bank centre in Kajang today.
The food supply will include sugar, sardine, ketchup, and bread, but Rosol said the priority would be on canned food.
The Terengganu MP said he was unsure of the number of test kits that UAE was sending but it is expected to arrive this week.
On Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Wisma Putra was in negotiation with UAE to obtain test kits.
The trade was based on a good relationship between the two countries.
Commenting on the alleged lack of face masks supply, Rosol said the stocks were sufficient.
However, he said local producers were worried about the government's temporary ban on exporting face masks.
This is because under the agreements with countries supplying raw materials to local producers, the latter have to supply face masks to those countries, Rosol said.
"We are negotiating with those countries so that at least 50 percent of the face masks that we produce can be distributed locally," he said.
On the ceiling price of face masks, Rosol said the matter was being discussed with various stakeholders and a solution should arise in the next two days.
This morning, the ministry's enforcement team had seized 223,000 units of face masks worth almost half a million ringgit in Kota Damansara.
It is believed that the masks were to be sold at RM3.50 per piece.
On March 20, the ministry had allowed the ceiling price of face masks to be raised to RM2, but it was subsequently rescinded due to complaints from the public that the price was too high.
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