Baghdad: The Ministry of Culture announced on Sunday that it has developed a plan to recover more than 100,000 antiquities smuggled out of Iraq through illegal excavations.

According to Iraqi News Agency, the Ministry’s Undersecretary, Qasim Al-Sudani, stated that the program of Prime Minister Ali Al-Zeidi’s government, approved by the Council of Ministers, emphasized the significance of tourism. It included 16 priorities for the Ministry of Culture, integrated into the government program, with the Tourism Authority and the tourism sector playing a central role in these priorities.

He further explained that the government’s strategy is aimed at engaging the private tourism sector as an active partner in managing the tourism sector and as a significant contributor to the national economy, especially as Iraq is dealing with a financial crisis due to declining oil revenues.

Al-Sudani detailed that the recovery process of antiquities is categorized into two groups. The first involves artifacts with museum inventory numbers that were stolen and smuggled from the Iraqi Museum after 2003. The second involves antiquities taken due to illegal excavations.

He mentioned that efforts to trace antiquities with museum inventory numbers are ongoing, and thousands of such artifacts have been recovered through collaboration with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior, Iraqi embassies abroad, and the National Intelligence and Security Services.

He emphasized that the Ministry is actively pursuing smugglers of antiquities obtained through illegal excavations, recovering numerous items daily. The Antiquities Authority’s plan under the current government includes reclaiming over 100,000 antiquities smuggled through illegal excavations.

He concluded by noting that smuggled antiquities are under constant surveillance, and some artifacts necessitate legal actions and lawsuits against the countries that hold them.