The European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) is very interested in providing a security package to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, a company's official said Thursday.

EADS, the Franco-German aerospace giant and parent of Airbus, said it had applied for the partnership with the Chinese government to provide solutions to security problems during the Beijing games.

"We have proposed to the Chinese authorities to be the security partner for the Beijing Olympic Games," Patrick Jourdan, chief executive officer of the Defense and Communications System, an EADS subdivision, said at a press conference on Thursday.

His company is participating in a four-day international exhibition on police equipment in the Chinese capital.

"We will gather all the best high-tech and proven technologies and offer customized solutions which will be used before, during and after the major events," he said.

EADS, the second largest company in the field, is expected to face a hot competition from US firm Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) for the luring security tender of the 2008 Olympics. Beijing organizers have yet to announce the final budget for the Games' security plans.

A SAIC-led consortium was awarded by Greece a 245 million euro (294 million US dollars) tender for the supply of an IT security package for this summer's Olympic Games in Athens.

Plans to safeguard the Athens Games are the most expensive in Olympic history, costing more than one billion euro (1.2 billion US dollars), four times higher than at the Sydney games.