On the sidelines of the Ancient Civilizations Forum held in Baghdad, the Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fuad Hussein, announced on Sunday that 18,000 smuggled Iraqi artifacts were recovered, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).

Hussein stated that the world is facing great challenges because of crises and different interests, and cultural dialogue is important to promote understanding, INA reported.

"Most of Iraq's civilizations were exposed to various threats. Terrorism destroyed the monuments of civilization, but these terrorist acts cannot obliterate history," Hussein explained.

Regarding the efforts of the Iraqi government to recover smuggled antiquities, Hussein clarified that the government made efforts to stop vandalism of antiquities, and stated that more than 18 thousand smuggled artifacts have been recovered.

The Iraqi Foreign Minister also explained that Iraq was exposed, at different times, to systematic theft to have its artifacts smuggled, and expressed his hope to strengthen bilateral cooperation and coordination to have all stolen antiquities recovered.

The Iraqi Antiquities Law imposes strict penalties on antiquities traffickers and smugglers. However, it is not possible to completely stop antiquities smuggling, especially with widespread unemployment, poverty, and difficult security and living conditions in the country.

Iraq is one of the richest countries in the world with antiquities, to the extent that some archaeological and cultural treasures, due to their abundance, sometimes float on top of archaeological sites because of environmental and climatic factors such as torrential rains.

Iraq was once the place where some of the oldest cities in the world emerged, and there are thousands of archaeological sites across the country where the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians once lived.