India and the US signed their first ever ‘Cultural Property Agreement’ on the sidelines of the 46th World Heritage Committee being hosted by India this time. The agreement was signed to prevent and curb the illicit trafficking of antiquities from India to the US.

Culture secretary Govind Mohan and Eric Garcetti, US ambassador to India, signed the agreement in the presence of Union minister of culture and tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

The Cultural Property Agreement (CPA) is aligned with the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the “Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, to which both countries are parties.”