INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARTEFACT SMUGGLING ENDS ON BRIJUNI

BRIJUNI, May 31 (Hina) - The third international conference on artefact smuggling in Central and Eastern Europe which took place on Croatia's island on Brijuni, ended today. The conference was organised by the Lyon-based Interpol's main secretariat, the NCB Interpol Conference from Zagreb, and the Croatian interior and culture ministries, and gathered 52 experts from 21 European countries and the United States. Following the conference, NCB Interpol office's head Zoran Nekic told reporters the conference was very important for Croatia, especially because of the main subject about protecting Croatia's submarine archaeological localities which are the target of looters and smugglers. Central and Eastern European countries, including Croatia, should harmonise their laws and activities with the EU to effectively fight the stealing and illegal trafficking of artefacts. The head of the Interpol's main secretariat's department dealing with stolen artefacts, Jean Pierre Jounny, said the Interpol cannot help restore Croatian artefacts which were stolen during the Homeland Defence War and have been placed in museums in Yugoslavia. This is an issue for diplomatic relations between the two countries. Interpol instigates an international search for stolen artefacts and cultural goods if they have not been found, but are known to be stolen, Jounny said. Croatian Assistant Culture Minister Jadran Antolovic said Croatia has drawn up a good registry and catalogue containing several dozen thousands artefacts which were stolen during the 1990's war in Croatia. The whereabouts of most of them is known, he added. "Negotiations on the normalisation of relations between Croatia and Yugoslavia have not started yet. Although Yugoslavia has voiced it would in principle return Croatia's cultural heritage, we expect it will do so as soon as the negotiations begin," Antolovic said. (hina) lml