India-US Cultural Property Agreement

• 27 Jul 2024

On July 2th, 2024, India and the United States signed their first-ever Cultural Property Agreement to repatriate stolen Indian artifacts and prevent the illicit trade, import, export, and trafficking of archaeological and ethnological materials.

Key Points

• The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy in India, partnered with the Government of India’s Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India to finalize this cultural property agreement.
• With this agreement, India joins the ranks of 29 existing U.S. bilateral cultural property agreement partners.
• The U.S.-India Cultural Property Agreement was negotiated by the State Department under the U.S. law implementing the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.