[en] The eighth ITER Negotiations meeting was held on 18-19 February, 2003 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The delegations of People's Republic of China and the USA joined those from Canada, The European Union, Japan and the Russian federation in their efforts to reach agreement on the implementation of the ITER project. The delegations took note of the progress of discussions on procurement allocations, ITER decommissioning issues, management structure and intellectual property rights. The Negotiators approved the report on the Joint Assessment of Specific Sites and noted the report on the start of the ITER Transitional Arrangements (ITA). The delegations also noted that China has stated its willingness to participate in ITA and that the USA is considering participation