French President Jacques Chirac on Tuesday hailed the choice of France as host of the world's first nuclear fusion reactor and said that he would visit the site in the southern French city of Cadarache on Thursday.

Earlier Tuesday, the six partners of the 12-billion-US-dollar project for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) , namely China, the United States, the EU, Japan, Russia and South Korea, reached an agreement in Moscow that ITER would be located at Cadarache.

"It is a great success for France, for Europe and for all the partners in ITER," said Chirac in a statement released by his office.

Chirac praised the agreement for its "fully taking into consideration the interest of all the partners of the project."

Chirac also said he wrote a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to assure Japan, which had made a rival bid for the site of the reactor, that the interests of all partners would be accommodated.

"I can assure you that France will do everything incumbent on it to guide the ITER project with efficiency, with respect for the agreement obtained between Europe and its partners," Chirac wrote.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said the choice was an "illustration of the EU countries' capacity to handle big projects when they are united," adding that France will put everything in place to host this project in the best conditions.

The ITER project would create 4,000 jobs and boost research and development in the country, added Villepin.

ITER is "a hugely ambitious scientific project which should permit an energy of the future to be developed without an impact on the climate and with sparing use of our natural resources," he said in the statement.

Chirac and Villepin thanked the European Union, Russia and China for their support of the candidature of Cadarache, which faced Japanese's rivalry backed by the United States and South Korea.

Source: Xinhua