Prof. Atsuto Suzuki (director of the Tohoku ILC Planning Office and president of Iwate Prefectural University) spoke with the media on the 19th to talk about his January visit to Europe. There he said he was planning to go to Europe in March in order to push forward negotiations on the ILC between European governments and Japan.

Looking back on the talks he had in January with government officials from France and Germany, Prof. Suzuki said, “We decided who would manage communications between the governments of Japan-France and Japan-Germany. It was a leap forward towards starting international talks on cost-sharing for the ILC.”

Regarding the next step, he said, “There’s significance in pushing these talks forward not just with these two countries, but between Japan and the whole rest of Europe. I will push them forward while communicating with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).” He vowed, “I want to go back to Europe as soon as the beginning of March so that government negotiations between Japan and Europe can start.”