The Egyptian embassy in Berlin hosted a meeting to discuss a draft law on the protection of the German cultural property, which will be debated in the German Bundestag.

The meeting grouped 17 Arab, Asian, African and Latin American countries that witnessed illicit excavations and illegal trade of their cultural artifacts.

Giving a word at the meeting, Ambassador Badr Abdel Aati thanked the German government for its proposal to amend the legislative framework of the German cultural property protection act.

He also discussed the current challenges to the world cultural heritage in light of the deliberate destruction and theft of antiquities by terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq to finance their terrorist activities. 

The meeting also took up applying the 1970 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property.