Brussels, 18/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Union and the United States want to "improve" and clarify the 1992 bilateral agreement on trade in large capacity civil aircraft. This is what emerges from consultations, qualified as "productive", that the partners had at technical level in Brussels, on Thursday (see yesterday's EUROPE, p. 13). The heads of units concerned at the European Commission and their American counterparts, who were meeting for the first time in a year, "reaffirmed their adherence to the agreement (…) which provides them with a useful forum for discussions", which has already "reduced government support and thereby avoided litigation since 1992". The joint declaration that they adopted, states, without further details, that the American delegation posed questions regarding European government support to the A380 super-jumbo, whereas the Europeans "enquired about recent legislation authorising lease of 100 B767 type "tanker" aircraft to the American Air Force". The polemic seemed to have been on the verge of turning into a conflict last year between Brussels and Washington, but the partners have since tried to calm things down. They are now promising "to explore ways and means of improving the functioning of the bilateral agreement". Consultations also covered "the updating of the WTO plurilateral agreement on trade in civil aircraft", says the joint declaration. The next "regular" session will be held in Washington.