France is to hand over to Egypt a number of illegally-exported antique pieces from the Egyptian, Roman and Byzantine periods that are in French possession after being seized by customs officers here, official sources said Thursday.
"In the framework of the visit to France of Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi, the French authorities will hand over, on November 27, to the Egyptian authorities...two lots of artefacts that were illegally imported to France," a statement from the Foreign Ministry said.
France is doing this "in conformity with the 1970 UNESCO convention relative to the fight against illegal trafficking of cultural goods," Paris indicated.
The cultural artefacts were seized originally at Charles de Gaulle airport by Customs Officials and they have been authenticated as real period antiques by the Louvre Museum experts.