The bill allows the government to register all antiquities and artifacts, whether small or large, so that no country can exploit them except by paying a return to Egypt. Mohaseb added, for example, Germany registered the Mercedes trademark with the WIPO, and now, no country can exploit the trademark without paying a return to Germany. Mohaseb will soon hold a meeting with Egypt’s Antiquities and Tourism Minister Khaled al-Anani in which he will present the new bill. There are nearly 40 museums around the world that contain nearly a million Egyptian artifacts, including the British Museum in London, which contains more than 100,000 artifacts, the MP said. The Louvre Museum in Paris which has about 50,000 Egyptian artifacts, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Kelsey Museum of Archaeology in Michigan each have about 45,000 Egyptian artifacts.

Source: Egypt Independent March 03, 2021 13:52 UTC