* Boeing to meet, discuss deals with Brazil parts makers
* Hopes to beat French, Swedish to clinch Brazil jet order
By Eduardo Simoes
SAO PAULO, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Boeing Co
Brazil's Defense Ministry said last week it had not yet
chosen a manufacturer for the multibillion dollar deal for
which France's Dassault Aviation
The North American firm is holding conferences with the Brazilian firms this week, to prod them to aim for a bigger slice of its annual $45 billion in purchases from other firms in the manufacture of its planes.
"That is why the (deal) is important to change this," said Michael Coggins, who heads customer relations and new business at Boeing, at a press conference the firm held in Sao Paulo.
Separately from the jet deal, Boeing is planning to provide
Brazilian airplane manufacturer Embraer
France, whose bid for the contract was bolstered by an official visit by President Nicolas Sarkozy last week, had previously said it intended to buy some of these cargo planes if Brazil chose its Rafale jets over competing designs.
The United States government has also thrown its weight behind Boeing's bid, through its representatives in Brazil.
"What is being offered here ... is a relationship with the largest defence company in the world, which is acting in the largest economy in the world, in the largest defence market in the world," said Sao Paulo-based U.S. consul general Thomas White.
"That's a package that Rafale and (Saab's) Gripen can't touch," he said,
Bob Gower, a senior developer of Boeing's F-18, said the jet competed favorably with the Rafale, which has never been sold abroad, on price and technological advancement, while France in turn has promised it would offer Brazil more generous transfer of technology through the sale. (Writing by Peter Murphy; Editing by Marguerita Choy)