Maria Van der Hoeven, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, feels strongly about the need to communicate the importance of fusion and ITER to decision-makers and the general public.
Many things have changed since Maria Van der Hoeven
last visited ITER five years ago. In February 2008,
Newsline described the ITER site as a " barren land with only a couple of mud trails and plenty of trucks and tractors."
At the time, Ms Van der Hoeven was the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs and already a strong proponent of the ITER Project. She is now the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (
IEA) and her interest in the project has not diminished.
Visiting the ITER site and meeting with ITER Organization senior management on Thursday 7 February, Ms Van der Hoeven insisted, like she had in a 2012
Newsline interview, on the necessity of communicating the importance of fusion and ITER to decision-makers and the general public.
Ms Van der Hoeven will be one the keynote speakers at the Monaco ITER International Fusion Energy Days (
MIIFED) to be held on 2-4 December in the Principality of Monaco.
