Malaysia and Japan today began three days of talks in a sixth round of negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA).

"We are hoping to reach an agreement by the end of this year but we still have to narrow differences over automobile exports and Malaysian plywood imports," an official with the Japanese trade ministry said.

Tokyo is expected to press Kuala Lumpur to abolish tariffs and regulations on Japanese car exports.

Malaysia, for its part, will ask Japan to scrap tariffs on plywood and other products such as leather goods and shoes during the sixth round of FTA negotiations, the official said.

In 2003 Japan's exports to Malaysia, which mainly comprised automobiles, steel and hi-tech products, totalled 1.3 trillion yen (US$12 billion) while Japanese imports from the country came to 1.5 trillion yen.

Japan has concluded free trade agreements with Singapore and Mexico and is also in FTA talks with the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand.