On October 7th, the non-partisan Federation of Diet Members for the ILC (FDMILC – Chair: Diet member Takeo Kawamura) held a general meeting at the Diet. There, they reported that they were arranging for joint research to start next spring between Japan and the U.S. in hopes of reducing costs for ILC construction. As they proceed with building a framework for U.S./Japan cooperation, Diet members selected from Iwate districts will also visit the E.U. this month to make an appeal about the importance of siting the ILC in Japan as well as gain support from the international community.

According to the FDMILC, a discussion group for officials from the Japanese Ministry of Science (MEXT) and U.S. Department of Energy held negotiations at the working level in August. They said that they are arranging for joint research to start in April 2017 between Japan and the U.S. in hopes of reducing costs. The research would mainly be carried out between the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) in Ibaraki, Japan, and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) in the U.S. There will be more working-level negotiations taking place within the year where they will officially decide their policy.

As for negotiations with the E.U., FDMILC Vice-chair and Diet Member Shunichi Suzuki (Iwate 2nd district) will be attending the International Parliamentary Union Assembly in Geneva on October 24th-26th. Diet Member Takeshi Shina (Iwate 1st District) will attend the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) international conference held in Strasbourg, France on October 31st. At both events, they intend to carry out foreign diplomacy for the realization of the ILC.