The first meeting of the NCRSSA
Following a decree issued by Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, the National Committee for the Repatriation of Stolen and Smuggled Antiquities (NCRSSA) sat for its first meeting since 2010.
Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany told Ahram Online that during the meeting several issues were discussed in order to draw a clear policy and complete a strategy to repatriate, in the near future, all artefacts that have been stolen and illegally smuggled out of the country and to guarantee the protection of Egypt’s cultural and antiquities heritage.
In the next meeting, El-Enany explained, decisions would be taken for two repatriation cases but was required not to mention specific details until concrete action has been taken.
The NCRSSA is headed by El-Enany with members from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice, International Cooperation, General Prosecutor as well as representatives from concerned security and supervision authorities.
Former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass attended the meeting because he was the first to establish the NCRSA in 2008 so that it could undergo the legal and diplomatic procedures, as well as provide all the means to return back to Egypt its stolen and illegally smuggled antiquities.
The last meeting of the NCRSSA was in late 2010 just before the 2011 January Revolution.
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