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Boeing denies

agreement with

Mitsubishi

SEATTLE: A visit to Tokyo last week by Boeing Senior Vice President Alan Mulally included "routine business discussions" but no specific or new agreements, a Boeing spokeswoman said.

Two Japanese newspapers had reported on Saturday that the Boeing Co. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries had reached a basic agreement to cooperate in the aerospace business.

The mass-circulation Yomiuri Shimbun, citing unidentified sources at Mitsubishi Heavy, said the companies could jointly develop commercial rockets and would work together designing a next-generation passenger jet and providing aircraft maintenance.

Mitsubishi Heavy President Takashi Nishioka and Mulally met in Tokyo on Friday to discuss details of the alliance, the Nihon Keizai business daily said.

However, Boeing spokeswoman Susan Bradley said, while Mulally's trip to Asia and Japan might have included discussions on possible joint opportunities, it was a routine visit with suppliers and airline customers.

"It wasn't to form a final agreement or anything of that nature," she said.

Mitsubishi Heavy is one of Japan's largest manufacturers of heavy equipment including rockets, ships and nuclear power plants.

Nobody was available for comment on Saturday at Mitsubishi Heavy or at Boeing's Japanese subsidiary in Tokyo.ÑAP