Baghdad (AIN) -Handover ceremony took place on May 21, 2014, many of the stolen and looted artifacts from the National Museum and the country to the administration of the National Museum.
The ceremony took place in the presence of Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Liwa' Smaisim and Officials in the administration of the museum.
A statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received by All Iraq News Agency cited "Foreign Minister said during his speech that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs began after the fall of the former regime in 2003, to work and move through the Iraqi Diplomatic Missions to regain the Iraqi cultural property and the stolen and looted Iraqi artifacts, which became one of the national tasks of Iraqi diplomacy, where our missions moved and investigated in most States when receives information that there traces of Iraqi artifacts in these countries , gave the power of attorney to lawyers for the implementation of legal prosecution and placing the hand on the detect Iraqi artifacts on auctions , as well as take the legal actions and addressing the international institutions to retrieve smuggled artifacts, demanding the international Police (Interpol) to prosecute those who involved in facilitating and smuggled it out of Iraq and communities with the Iraqi abroad to cooperate in the retrieving of our monuments."
The Minister referred to that as a result of this effort and said "We are today handed over the National Museum and the new collection of artifacts amounted to (166) piece of the clay tablets figures and statues in addition to (110) colored stitch back to the Sumerian era".
"These pieces have been retrieving of the United States, Australia, Germany, Lebanon, Morocco and Kuwait," the statement added.
"Foreign Minister praised the positive cooperation among the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the National Museum, the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers and the Ministries of the Interior and Culture," the statement continued.
"The Minister of Tourism and Antiquities expressed his appreciation for the efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassies and Missions of Iraq and the Iraqi community abroad and praised the close coordination between Ministries and relevant agencies," the statement mentioned.
"The delivery ceremony took place during the signing of the minutes by the Head of the Legal Department, Ambassador Walid Shiltagh and Director of the Iraq National Museum, Qais Hussein Rashid," the statement concluded.
© All Iraq News 2014
