Proposed by Mr. Oettinger, Commissioner for Energy in the European Commission, and responded by governments of seven parties, the Ministerial ITER Council Meeting was convened in Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, the ITER headquarter, which is located in southern part of France. Vice Minister Cao, head of the delegation, attended the meeting, and so did the French Minister of Higher Education and Research Mrs. Fioraso, host of this Council. This is another ministerial council of the seven parties (China, UN, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russia and the US) after site selection of the headquarter and the signing the Joint Implementation Agreement. Mr. Osamu Motojima, ITER Director General, presented the latest progress, construction and management of the project.
All delegates recognized the fruitful achievement of ITER Project as well as the efforts of ITER Director General and other parties, and reiterated the importance of building ITER appliances for experimental installation to addressing future energy issues. Therefore, all parties expressed their willingness to make joint efforts to cope with current problems and challenges. During the meeting, the representatives visited the ITER building and witnessed the hopeful prospects of the project, thus gaining great confidence in future development. After the meeting, heads of all delegations attended the press conference together with Director General Osamu Motojima, introducing the progress of fusion energy and ITER Project to journalists around the world.

Participants of the meeting also include Mr. Cui Tuo, Director General of the Department of Basic Research, Mr. Luo Delong, Deputy Director of ITER Center and Mr. Chen Ming, Minister-Counsellor of Science and Technology of the Chinese Embassy in France.