WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said here Friday that efforts must accelerate to resolvea decades-long dispute over government subsidies provided to aircraft giants Boeing and Airbus.

    Mandelson told reporters that efforts to negotiate an agreementmust accelerate to meet an the April deadline.

    "We have set deadline. It is important to meet that deadline," he said.

    Mandelson had two days of discussions with US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and other members of the administration and Congress.

    But US and European officials remained at odds over what constitutes subsidies for Airbus and Boeing, according to Mandelson.

    "We still have difficulties (agreeing on) a definition of the support," he said. "We both support large civilian aircraft production; we both do it in different ways."

    The United States lodged a complaint against EU subsidies to France-based Airbus with the World Trade Organization (WTO) in October, triggering a counteraction from Europe against what it termed indirect US government aid for Chicago-based Boeing.

    On Jan. 11, the two sides announced that they would try to resolve the subsidy dispute over a three-month negotiating period,deferring the cases they have brought before the WTO. They would use WTO rules as the basis for an agreement, both sides said.

    Richard Mills, Zoellick's spokesman, said the two men had held "serious discussions that were focused on the core issues" of the subsidy dispute. He said technical discussions would continue at alower level. Enditem