The European Commission on Thursday welcomed the outcome of the meeting of the ITER Council, the governing body of the year-old ITER Organization.
ITER is an international project of scientific collaboration designed to build an experimental reactor which would reproduce the physical reaction -- fusion -- that occurs in the sun and stars. The goal of ITER is to produce energy through fusion.

European Commission representatives attended the two-day meeting in Cadarache, France, together with representatives from the other six ITER members: China, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.
The parties discussed the progress report of a panel of international experts that was asked by the last ITER Council meeting in June 2008 to assess the organization's resources estimates and their efficient use. One of the key recommendations is to improve the management system through closer integration of the international organization and the domestic agencies.
"ITER is a unique project presenting unique challenges. Together with our global partners we have a responsibility to develop secure and sustainable energy sources for the future and ITER could enable us to make great progress toward this goal. We also have a responsibility to ensure that the project is carried out in the most cost-effective and efficient way," said European Union (EU) Commissioner for Science and Research, Janez Potocnik.
ITER is part of the EU strategy to address security of energy supply and climate change.