On July 26, 2024, the U.S. Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti and Govind Mohan, Secretary, Indian Ministry of Culture, signed a Cultural Property Agreement between the two countries in the presence of Minister of Culture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. This event marks the culmination of nearly two years of diligent work by experts from both countries and fulfills President Biden’s and Prime Minister Modi’s commitment to enhance cooperation to protect cultural heritage highlighted in the joint statement issued after their meeting in June 2023. The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, working with the U.S. Embassy in India, worked in partnership with the Government of India’s Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India to bring this cultural property agreement to fruition.
Cultural property agreements prevent the illegal trade of cultural property and simplify the process by which looted and stolen antiquities may be returned to their country of origin. The United States has been unwavering in its commitment to protect and preserve cultural heritage worldwide and to restrict trafficking in cultural property.
Ambassador Garcetti stated at the signing ceremony: “This cultural property agreement is about two things. First and foremost, it’s about justice – returning to India and to Indians, what is rightfully theirs. Secondly, it’s about connecting India with the world. Every American and every global citizen deserves to know, see, and experience the culture that we celebrate here today. To know Indian culture is to know human culture.” He also congratulated the Government of India for being a gracious host of UNESCO’s 46th session of the World Heritage Committee, noting that by hosting this important meeting, India demonstrates its commitment to not only protecting its own cultural property, but to also assisting other countries in doing the same.
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.