PRINCIPAUTE DE MONACO

Welcome LETTERS

Ladies and gentlemen,

Please allow me to welcome you to the second edition of the Monaco ITER International Fusion Days. I am sure that you will feel at home here as guests and as partners in one of the greatest scientific ventures of all times.

Five and a half years ago the Principality of Monaco and the ITER Organization signed a Partnership Agreement that established this international conference.

This agreement also provided for the financing of five postdoctoral fellowships every other year. To this day, fifteen young men and women from the seven ITER Members have benefitted from this program. At ITER, they are known as the “Monaco Fellows”, which is a great satisfaction.

There is no task more rewarding than supporting young talent, especially in a science that is opening such vast prospects for the generations to come.

The Principality of Monaco is very proud to be part of this thrilling and may I say “electrifying” project. Over the years, through my visit to ITER in January 2010 and through the exchanges that I have had with the “Monaco Fellows”, I have taken the full measure of the scientific and technical challenge you are tackling.

What is undergoing at the ITER site, less than 200 kilometres from this Convention Centre, and also in the factories of the ITER Members throughout the world is of tremendous importance – it could truly change the course of our civilization.

Energy and climate change are now central issues for the inhabitants of this planet. In opening a way to a virtually unlimited, safe, environmentally benign and non-carbon emitting energy source, you are addressing both of these issues. What you are doing is as difficult as it is enthralling. And my country is very proud to be standing at your side.

I have no doubt this three-days meeting wiil be a valuable contribution to your project.

I wish you all, the best in the debates you are going to have and in your upcoming work.

H. S. H. Prince Albert II of Monaco

Dear Sir, Madam,

I am pleased to welcome you to Monaco for this major Monaco-ITER event on fusion energy, MIIFED 2013.

The three days of the conference will allow us to take stock of what has been – and what will be – achieved by one of the most exciting scientific and technological projects on Earth.

ITER is to fusion energy what the Apollo project was to landing on the Moon: the culmination of decades of efforts for one of the most exciting, most meaningful ventures in human history.

ITER is now well on its way: construction is progressing rapidly in Saint Paul-lez-Durance and the manufacture of components has begun in the 35 countries that are participating in this ambitious scientific experiment, which is also an unprecedented international collaboration.

It is the right time to show and share what we have learned together and what we are achieving. And also time to look to the future. The aim of MIIFED 2013 is to develop further scientific cooperation and technology transfers and also to prepare the ground for the future fusion reactors. MIIFED 2013 also aims to encourage synergies between energy-related research and technology developments.

I would like to thank His Serene Highness Prince Albert II for his constant support of the ITER Project and his enduring generosity, in particular for the Monaco fellowships and the MIIFED conferences.

I hope your participation in MIIFED 2013 will be both interesting and productive, and look forward to meeting you.

Osamu Motojima
Director-General, ITER Organization