March 17, 2014
The International Coalition to Protect Egyptian Antiquities was honored to host the Egyptian Minister of Antiquities, Mohammed Ibrahim the week of March 9 in Washington DC. During his visit, the Minister and Deborah Lehr, Chairman of the ICPEA, signed a public-private partnership to protect Egyptian antiquities from cultural racketeering. This partnership is the first of its kind for the Ministry. The first initiative under the agreement is to create a national registry of all excavated Egyptian antiquities. The AIA is a founding member of the ICPEA.
The Egyptian Ambassador hosted a dinner in honor of the Minister and to celebrate the signing of this history agreement. Held in the Ambassador’s private residence, attendees included included Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Evan Ryan, Congressman Mark Meadows, R-NC, who is a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Under Secretary for Art, History, and Culture of the Smithsonian Institution, Richard Kurin, Andrew Moore, President of the AIA, ICPEA’s Chairman Deborah Lehr, and Yasser Elnaggar, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Egyptian Embassy.
