On November 29th, the Federation of Diet Members for the ILC (FDMILC, Chair: Hon. Takeo Kawamura (House of Representatives, Yamaguchi 3rd District) met with Hon. Olivier Becht, a member of French Parliament (National Assembly), at the Diet building. The FDMILC, in order to create an international structure of coordination needed to realize the ILC, plans to visit Europe in the beginning of January 2018. At this meeting, they asked Hon. Becht to coordinate meetings between the FDMILC and French Parliament, to which Hon. Becht responded with positive support.
The FDMILC met with Hon. Becht in both the morning and afternoon, who came to Japan to discuss economic cooperation. Chair Kawamura, Secretary-General Ryu Shionoya (House of Representatives, Shizuoka 8th District), Hon. Tatsuo Hirano (House of Councilors, Iwate district), Hon. Takashi Fujiwara (House of Representatives, Tohoku proportional district), and others attended the meetings along with Mr. Hiroaki Takahashi, honorary chairman of the Tohoku Economic Federation.
The FDMILC talked about the significance of the ILC, and how the costs are now greatly reduced in the new plan for the ILC which reduces the length of its initial stage. Along with its efforts to coordinate politically with the USA, the FDMILC will be visiting France and Germany on January 8-12, 2018. They told Hon. Becht of their plans, and asked for his help.
Hon. Becht has previously served as a mayor and assembly member in the Alsace region of France, which has ties with Iwate Prefecture. He also took part in the recent LCWS 2017 about the ILC. He responded, “The ILC is a necessary project, and will be good for the candidate site, Iwate. I will work to connect you with colleagues in Parliament.”
After the meeting, Hon. Kawamura talked to Iwate Nippo and other news organizations. “It was so good to see how much he understands the ILC project. With our visit to Europe, we will further develop our relationship with the main players in the ILC project, so that the Japanese national government can give an indication within the 2017 fiscal year on whether or not it will host the ILC.”
The ILC will be a large-scale linear collider that will uncover the secrets of the mysteries of the universe. Its candidate site is in the Kitakami mountains of Iwate Prefecture. Taking into account the opinions of the Panel of Experts installed at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, the Japanese national government will make a decision on hosting the projects within 2018.