Common
Message from the 6th Preparatory Meeting for
ITER Decision Making
(Tokyo, 1st April
2006)
High level negotiators from China,
European Union, the Republic of India, Japan,
the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation,
and the United States of America met at the
Tokyo International Exchange Center in Tokyo
on 1st April 2006 to finalize the ITER negotiations
and to take key decisions on the future of the
project.
Conclusion of ITER Negotiations
At the Meeting, the representatives of the seven
Parties involved accepted the final results
of the four years of intensive negotiations
and confirmed their intentions now to present
proposals to their respective authorities for
approval to conclude the international agreement
on the project.
Designation of nominee
Principal Deputy Director-General
Following interviews with all Parties, the negotiators
unanimously agreed on the proposal of European
Union to designate Dr. Norbert Holtkamp as nominee
to the principal technical management post under
the Director-General of the prospective ITER
Organization. Dr. Holtkamp is currently Director
of Accelerator Systems Division, Spallation
Neutron Source at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
in the USA. The Parties asked Dr. Holtkamp to
take up his duties promptly.
Coming after the designation in
November 2005 of Ambassador Kaname Ikeda as
the nominee Director-General, this means that
the core of the management team of the prospective
ITER Organization is now in place.
Conclusion
These two developments confirm that the ITER
Project is well on the way to becoming a reality
with the start of its construction. The core
of the management team will now press forward
with the build up of the international ITER
Team and its activities on the ITER site.
As the next
major step in the official process, a meeting
of the parties at Ministerial level is planned
for 24 May in Brussels for the purpose of initialling
the ITER Agreement.
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