Recently, Liu Yuzhu, director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, met with Styliani Mendoni, Greek minister of Culture and Sports. Both sides exchanged views on further reinforce exchanges and cooperation in cultural property.
Liu Yuzhu expressed that President Xi Jinping and President Prokopis Pavlopoulos have reached extensive consensus on cultural property cooperation during Xi’s state visit to Greece in November. Meanwhile, they pointed out the direction for the cooperation in protecting and restoring cultural relics and enabling the return of lost cultural properties to their countries of origin. China and Greek, as two ancient civilizations with abundant cultural properties, have great potential for cooperation as they share same experience and challenges in cultural relic protection, return of lost cultural heritages and underwater archaeological excavation. The Chinese side is willing to work jointly with Greece to put the leaders’ consensus and expectation into place. To this end, the Chinese side proposed to set up the multi-department joint working group who will engage in figuring out current cooperative outcomes, sharing and exchanging experience and studying future cooperation and projects so as to strengthen communication and cooperation in combating and preventing illicit trafficking of cultural property, safeguarding cultural heritage, and enabling the return of illicitly acquired cultural properties to their countries of origin.
Mendoni responded Chinese proposals actively, believing that both Chinese civilization and Greek civilization have exerted great influence on other countries. Thus, the cooperation between two sides in cultural property will benefit international community. The Greek side is willing to enhance collaboration in addressing the effect of climate change on cultural heritages, and contribute to protecting and carrying forward splendid and precious cultural relics of the two sides.