Tuesday was a very productive day, I had several successful meetings, including a visit with a delegation from Iraq’s antiquities authorities.

I began the morning by meeting the Minister of the Interior, Mansour el-Essawy, at his office, to address how to improve the protection and safety of sites and museums throughout the country. We agreed that this is a priority and immediate action must be taken. Currently there are issues in some areas of Old Cairo, including Muizz Street and Khan el-Khalili, so we need the tourist police to ensure security in these and other areas. We also spoke about the pyramid development project, and I stressed that it is very important to organize the vendors in a sensible fashion. We do not want to get rid of them entirely, but we can arrange them in a way that is beneficial to them as well as tourists. Our main goal is to keep the sites clean and safe for everyone.

After my meeting with the Minister, I met a delegation from Iraq, headed by Dr. Mohi El-Din Hussein Abdullah, the Iraqi Minister. This group had traveled all the way from Iraq to meet with me, because they wanted to discuss how Egypt has gone about protecting our antiquities. Dr. Abdullah mentioned that they had heard about the success I had in repatriating objects to Egypt, so they wanted to meet me face to face.  I was honored that they wanted to discuss these things with me, and I was very happy to meet them. We talked about the site management plans that have been put into place in Egypt, and I told them about some successful cases we have had to repatriate objects to Egypt. I also told them about the restoration work we are doing throughout the country on pharaonic, Coptic, Islamic and Jewish monuments.

The delegation had concerns about the looting that has been going on in Iraq for the past several years, and I told them one of the most important things they can do is to construct quality magazines that conform to high modern standards. I gave them a book that talks about preserving heritage and contains examples of the 47 magazines that have been built in Egypt since 2002. These new magazines were not subjected to looting during the January Revolution, the magazines looted were the outdated ones. Another positive point I shared with the Iraqi delegation is the importance of raising public awareness about their monuments and heritage. The Ministry produces several publications in order to raise public awareness, magazines for adults as well as children that promote tourism and awareness of the antiquities. We talked about other projects undertaken by the MSA, such as the work we are doing to make databases to register all objects at museums and site magazines, so that we have a full record of all objects found in Egypt.

Another important topic we touched on was antiquities law. The Iraqi delegation is working in their country to improve the laws regarding illegal trafficking of antiquities, so the authorities have more power to put a stop to it. I described for them what had happened at the Conference on International Cooperation for the Protection and Repatriation of Cultural Heritage that we held in Cairo last April. The Iraqi delegation was unable to attend, so I expressed my desire that they be able to attend the second annual conference, which will be held in Peru the first week of July. I told them I thought they should host the third annual conference in Iraq, and they agreed this was a good idea, so they will go home and discuss this. I hope to hear good news from them soon.   I explained to them how each delegation at the first conference brought a “wish list” of artifacts they wanted to see returned to their country, and I invited Iraq to submit one now, and I will help them with anything I can.

The Iraqi delegation mentioned the good relations between their country and Peru. The two countries are forming an agreement for the protection of their monuments and cooperation concerning the repatriation of artifacts. Dr. Abdullah listed Peru, Syria, Jordan, Spain, the USA, and Egypt as countries that have been particularly helpful in repatriating objects and stopping stolen antiquities. I agreed and also praised the work of the United States Department of Homeland Security. They have worked very hard to help Egypt repatriate many objects, and have never asked for payment or anything in return. They only want to help and we appreciate their efforts and hope other countries will follow their example.

Iraq is involved in court cases in Lebanon and a few other countries, and they hope to be able to repatriate several objects soon. Dr. Abdullah and I agreed that European countries and auction houses that deal in antiquities hold a responsibility to ensure that these objects are obtained legally. Governments and auction houses play an important role in this matter, and they should investigate antiquities very well to prevent illegal antiquities from entering their country or auction house.

At the end of our meeting, the topic was raised of drafting an agreement between Iraq and Egypt, so that we might assist each other and counsel each other on matters of cultural heritage. I advised that I have been trying to make as many agreements as I can with other nations that allow the trade of antiquities. I have been successful in making agreements concerning the repatriation of cultural heritage between Egypt and several countries, including Switzerland, Italy, and China. I also advised them that if any museum in the world has an object they know to be stolen from Iraq, they should cut the scientific relations between that museum and Iraq. It is not good to cut the diplomatic relations with the country, instead it is better to hold that specific institution responsible, and put pressure on them to return it by cutting the scientific relations. An example of how we did this in Egypt is the case of the Tetiky wall paintings in the Louvre. We knew these five paintings were stolen from Theban Tomb 15, and they were in the Louvre. We asked for them to be returned, and when they were not, the MSA refused to let the Louvre excavate in Egypt until they were repatriated. The Louvre returned the paintings, and we restored scientific relations with them, a successful outcome for everyone.

The Iraqi delegation had the opportunity to visit several sites and museums while they were in Cairo. They brought up in our meeting one subject that particularly caught their interest. They noticed the hair of a Ramesside mummy that we had repatriated. A scientific team was doing DNA research, but one of the scientists took the hair out of Egypt illegally, so the MSA made a case and returned the hair. Dr. Abdullah approved of this case, because although many people would think that a hair is insignificant, each piece of our cultural heritage is important. Dr. Abdullah thought that it is good to pursue these cases to demonstrate this to the world.

Another topic raised in our meeting was sending exhibits abroad. I counseled them that Iraq could benefit from loaning objects to reputable museums abroad for exhibitions, as Egypt does. Strict rules for these loans must be enforced; in Egypt we work very hard to make sure the objects are protected 100% and the income from the exhibit comes back to Egypt directly for restoration. I gave the Iraqi delegation a copy of our guidelines for traveling exhibitions, and they were very glad to have them, as they do not yet have anything similar. Now they can create guidelines specific to their needs so that the world can experience these exhibitions and the profit will help the Iraqi antiquities.

I had a very successful meeting with these delegates from Iraq. I am very glad they were able to come to Egypt and that we could discuss these important matters that affect both our countries. If we are to combat the problems of illegal trafficking of antiquities and protect the cultural heritage of the world, we must work together. Meetings such as this and international conferences, such as the one to be held in Peru this year, are the first step toward solutions.

At the end of the day Tuesday, I met with the director and representatives of the Ministry’s Museum Sector, who presented their concerns and issues. I listened to them and assured them that we will make changes where necessary in the Museum Sector. People who work hard will be rewarded and people who do not care about their work and are lazy or cause problems will not be tolerated. This was also a good meeting, we had a productive dialogue and everyone left satisfied.