KL, Bangkok to settle row

KL, Bangkok to settle row

HANOI (AFP): Malaysia and Thailand have agreed to resolve a row over auto industry protection which threatened Southeast Asian efforts to set up a free trade area, ministers from the two countries said Friday.

Thailand had objected to Malaysia's insistence on a reprieve from the free trade area's rules for its national car manufacturer Proton.

"We will resolve the matter bilaterally," said Thai Commerce Minister Bohdaramik Adisai. "A friendly mutual outcome will follow in the near future."

Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz said the two sides had agreed to find a solution before a summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian nations in Brunei in November.

"Malaysia has agreed that because it is a bilateral matter, we will resolve it bilaterally," she said. "We have left ourselves until Brunei to come up with something."

Proton is the biggest selling car in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand with some 20 percent of the market, Automotive Resources Asia (ARA) Ltd. said in a report released last month.