CAIRO, July 11 (MENA) - Egypt's Ambassador to Belgium Ahmed Abu Zeid has received two smuggled artifacts in an official ceremony held at the Art and History Museum in Brussels.

The move comes in light of the existing cooperation and coordination between the Egyptian Embassy in Brussels and the Belgian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economy, as well as the federal prosecutor's office of Belgium, which resulted in recovering two ancient Egyptian items, according to a statement released by the foreign ministry on Friday.

The first artifact is a gilded wooden sarcophagus from the Ptolemaic era, while the other ancient piece is a beard of a wooden statue dating back to the ancient Egyptian civilization.

Speaking at the ceremony, Abu Zeid said Egypt attaches great importance to restoring all smuggled artifacts in accordance with the UNESCO 1970 Convention, extending thanks to Belgium's authorities for their cooperation in recovering the two relics.

The ambassador stated he looks forward to fostering collaboration with the Belgian government in retrieving Egyptian antiquities and raising awareness about the significance of countering the illicit trafficking of cultural property, which represents the common human heritage of the world. (MENA)

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