CP meeting held at Cadarache

Some 50 representatives and experts of the ITER Parties came together the Château Cadarache on 8-10 November, to iron out the last wrinkles in the ITER Agreement, in preparation for the signature in Paris on 21 November.

This so-called Contact Persons (CP) meeting grew out of the negotiation meetings for the ITER Agreement. Its present task is to prepare the ITER Council meetings, and to prepare most of the documents that the Council will need to endorse and approve. This time, issues such as staff regulations, resources management, and the ITER budget for 2007 were on the agenda.

"Today, we CP's are preparing the last documents that will allow the ITER Organization to operate as a legal entity and manage its own affairs, such as recruiting personnel, place contracts, etc.", said Didier Gambier of DG Research, one of the Contact Persons for the EU. "Our job here is to make sure all material presented to the Interim ITER Council is sufficiently consensual for the Parties to approve it without too much trouble."