His Royal Highness Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) categorically affirmed that the Kingdom will take the issues of smuggling of antiquities seriously and will not going to tolerate in this respect, noting that the Kingdom is working strongly through Interpol and other organizations known to contain activities in order to curb the smuggling of its antiquities completely.

This came in a speech delivered by HRH at the opening ceremony of the nineteenth session of the Arab Conference on Antiquities and Urban Heritage, which was inaugurated by him early this morning on behalf of His Royal Highness Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, Amir of Riyadh Region.  The conference was held under the slogan of "Illegal excavations and illicit trade in antiquities" in the presence of His Excellency the Director General of The Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), Dr. Mohamed-El Aziz Ben Achour and several SCTA officials and the representatives of the participating countries.

HRH welcomed during his speech at the opening ceremony, which was held at the Marriott Hotel in Riyadh, His Excellency the Director General of ALECSO, and the participants and conveyed them the greetings of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Abdul-Aziz - may God preserve him - and his wishes for a successful conference.

HRH President of SCTA has emphasized the keenness and the concern of the Kingdom toward preserving its heritage and antiquities considering them as a national treasure due to their historical, civilization and cultural dimensions.

The President of SCTA explained that Saudi Arabia will witness this year, a particular interest of The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and His Crown Prince- may Allah safeguard them - the first exhibition of the restored antiquities of the Kingdom.  HRH in this respect indicated that, this is the first exhibition of recovered relics to be held in the history of the Kingdom.

He added: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The instructions from the State sponsored by God and confirmed by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for SCTA to work to restore all the possible antiquities existing outside the Kingdom.  He said, “We are working hard to restore these antiquities to present them in the next exhibition.  We have also helped for the recovery of relics of   some of our friendly countries, as happened in the month of Ramadan when we handed over the smuggled relics of Iraq back to its origin.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

HRH the President of SCTA added that the Commission is currently working to bring about a major shift in the antiquities and museums sector and urban heritage in line with international standards with best global experiences, indicating that the national antiquities and architectural heritage is an extension of the national heritage.

He further added that the kingdom was working for the first time with 14 countries in the field of archeology in a number of areas within the Kingdom with the participation of national cadres in some locations.  In this respect more than 30 Saudi nationals are working with international teams in opening of these sites for visitors after processing them on a global standard.

He pointed out that the Kingdom is currently in the process of reformation and comprehensive development of National Museum, stressing that the National Museums next year will witness a new shift in the way it receives guests or in its cooperation with schools or in hosting cultural events. During the current month SCTA will also be signing for the establishment of 5 major museums in the Kingdom and on next Wednesday a foundation stone will be laid for the first of these museums in the Asir Region, which will present the heritage and antiquities of the region in an architectural style of the highest international standards.

He explained that SCTA is working in the final stage of establishing 7 other major museums. Under the guidance of the State it will establish one main Museum of Islamic heritage on national levels in Jeddah to be established in the Al Khouzam palace, and an international museum of the Holy Quran will be held in Medina on the highest international standards.

HRH pointed out that the Commission will work on a plan for codification of information concerning the effects this year and will take steps to connect information with the public and raise the issue of heritage and monuments and architectural heritage to inculcate the awareness of the importance and work to change the stereotypes concerning legitimizing the stolen effects or vandalizing the heritage sites.

HRH referred to the participation in the International Conference on Architectural Heritage in the Islamic world which will be held under the patronage of The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, on 18 April this year, noting that this conference will present several successful experiences in the Islamic world in the field of architectural heritage.

He also hailed the partnership with the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs in the allocation of more than 50 municipalities across the Kingdom a budgets for the development of heritage villages, and stressed, “We will work with several partners from the ministries concerned to prepare the infrastructure for the development of sites, and participation of local people in these villages to form cooperatives to develop these sites.” He added that three of these associations have established companies to develop sites with the support of the Saudi Credit and Saving Bank to contribute to the restoration of heritage and partner in the Heritage Hotels. The government has recently ended the study of the establishment of a national company in which the state and private sector will participate for the development of heritage hotels in locations whether these are state-owned and other of the private sector.

The Commission with its partners will contribute in financing investment opportunities in traditional hotels, inns and rural finance and the renovation of heritage sites and training programs and support the training of artisans, productive families and youth by providing the necessary assistance.

Dr. Mohamed-El Aziz Ben Achour, the Director General of ALECSO referred to his organization's concern to archaeological excavations, and pointed out that his organization would discuss in its meetings with regard to excavations carried out by Israel in Al Aqsa Mosque and its destruction of Muslim antiquities, stressing the importance of the rich historical legacy that by Muslim countries possess.

The Kingdom will present a paper during the conference on its experience in dealing with archaeological excavations and illegal trading in antiquities, and the conference seeks to share information, and learn from the experiences of States and to find appropriate ways to deal with such a negative phenomenon that began to rise as a result of lack of knowledge in assessing the importance of these effects. The conference also aims to come up with recommendations to find positive solutions to this issue.

The program of the conference will continues on three-day sessions over the next couple of days during which the participating countries will submitted papers reviewing their experiences in addressing this issue and the preservation of cultural heritage in the Arab world.