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Armenia does its best to prevent and ban the smuggling of cultural values into and from Armenia and the illegal transfer of property rights, Armenian Culture Minister Hasmik Poghosyan said at a meeting with Syria’s Culture Minister Issam Khalil.

Welcoming the guest, Ms. Poghosyan stressed the importance of the report given by Syrian minister during the roundtable “Cultural Heritage as a Factor of Human Unification and Spiritual Communication” held in Yerevan, the press service of Culture Ministry said.
Hasmik Poghosyan proposed expanding cooperation within the framework of UNESCO Conventions. She said Armenia is concerned over the destruction of Syria’s cultural heritage by Islamic State. She underlined the need for joint efforts to prevent cultural vandalism. The Armenian minister also suggested holding Days of Armenian and Syrian Cultures in the two countries.

H. Poghosyan thanked the Syrian government and Culture Minister Issam Khalil in particular for assisting with the organization of commemorations in Syria on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. She attached importance to the sitting convened by the Syrian parliament on March 17 in connection with the Armenian Genocide Centenary.

The sides addressed the problems of approximately 13,000 Syrian Armenians who have found refuge in Armenia since 2012.
At the conclusion of the meeting the Armenian cultural minister presented the Syrian counterpart with a book about Armenian monuments destroyed in Western Armenia, and several souvenirs symbolizing Armenia’s centuries-old rock drawings.