At its annual meeting on January 26, 2000, the International Energy Agency's (IEA) Fusion Power Coordinating Committee (FPCC) elected new officers for a three-year term. Michael Roberts, Director of International Activities, US Department of Energy Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES), was elected Chair along with two equal Vice-Chairs, Gunnar Leman, National Science Research Council of Sweden, and Masayuki Nagami of JAERI. Mike Roberts is also Director of the Facilities and Enabling Technologies Division in OFES.

Mike Roberts had just completed serving seven years as Vice-Chair with Gunter Grieger, IPP, Germany, as Chair. At the end of his service at the January meeting, Grieger was thanked for his many contributions to the international fusion program and recognized at his retirement as the last serving member of the original FPCC dating to the mid-1970s. The FPCC is the body responsible for fusion activities in the IEA Technology, Research and Development effort.

Presently there are eight active IEA international fusion collaborative agreements covering a wide range of topics, both fusion science and technology. Each of these agreements to do joint work has typically three or more parties, usually the USDOE, EURATOM, and JAERI or another Japanese entity. The Russian Federation now is participating in four of these agreements, China one (Materials) and Ukraine has recently agreed to join one (Stellarator) as well.

The FPCC is one of two such international bodies, with the other being the International Fusion Research Council (IFRC) which is the consultative body for fusion activities in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Ernesto Canobbio of EURATOM is the Chair of the IFRC. Shigeru Mori and Donato Palumbo were the previous Chairs of the FPCC.