FARNBOROUGH, July 13, 2008 (AFP) - Marwan Lahoud, head of strategy at the European aerospace group EADS, on Sunday said he did not rule out forging links with companies in the Middle East.

'It would be silly from our side to exclude any of the options of this kind,' he told an EADS seminar at the weekend organised ahead of the Farnborough International Air Show, which opens Monday.

'They are investors, they are customers. They are willing to grow local industry. So all this is good for us, providing we find the right deal,' Lahoud said when questioned about the possibility of link-ups with Middle East companies.

Last November Lahoud indicated that EADS and one of the chief investment funds in the Middle East, Mubadala, based in Abu Dhabi, were in talks to manufacture plane parts in the rich emirate.

He told the Gulf News at the time that the talks were about carbon fibre, which he described as one of the key elements in the future of civil aviation.

The new national airline of the United Arab Emirates (United Arab Emirate), Etihad Airways, announced on June 30 that it might order between 50 and 100 planes at Farnborough, without indicating who would supply them.

Mubadala will also be present at the air show.

European aircraft manufacturer maker Airbus revealed last year that it had a 70 percent market share in the Middle East, notably with Dubai's Emirates Airlines, the biggest customer for its A380 superjumbos, and Qatar Airways, its top buyer for long-haul A350s.