Thailand to take action against Vietnam's protectionist policy

BANGKOK, May 30 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Industry plans to take action against Vietnam for its decade-long protectionist policy on imported products from Thailand. Nattapol Rangsitpol (ณัฐพล รังสิตพล), Acting Director-General of the Office of Industrial Economics (OIE), told journalists of the plan on Wednesday, stating that Vietnam has implemented the protectionist policy, in the form of non-trade barriers, over the past 10 years, starting from imported textile and garment products and expanding to imported automobiles over the past months. Nattapol explained that Hanoi's protectionist policy was imposed along with its publicly-announced elimination of import tariffs based on the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) among member countries of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Nattapol said under the Vietnamese protectionist policy, Hanoi has inspected, for instance, imported automobiles from Thailand more strictly by checking all lots of shipments arriving in Vietnam daily, causing an unnecessary slowdown in delivering procedures of the Thai products. The senior official noted that some Thai investors relocating their production base to Vietnam to avoid impacts from the protectionist policy have also faced some unexpected problems, namely a wage hike without any official notification on the move in advance. According to the senior official, the Thai government, through the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Industry, is considering to, probably, lodge a petition on the issue with the Geneva-based World Trade Organization (WTO) or seek for talks with relevant parties within the ASEAN framework, as the issue could affect confidence in the AEC as a free trade zone among among international traders and investors. (TNA)