Egypt has retrieved a number of artifacts that were smuggled to Italy last month. The rare pieces were recovered from a customs depot in Rome. This successful handover demonstrates Egypt's determination to repatriate its stolen treasures. Yasser Hakim has the details.

It's considered one of the most successful repatriation efforts in recent years. Twenty three thousand pieces delivered back from Italy. Most are Pharaonic coins. But there are also 124 rare artifacts such as mummies, small statues and a coffin that date back to the first dynasty. And the Egyptian minister of antiquities showcased these artifacts to the Italian foreign minister.

KHALED ANANY EGYPTIAN MINISTER OF ANTIQUITIES "We started the visit with an exhibition of some artifacts discovered by the Italian missions. We have 21 archaeological missions from Italy in Egypt. Then we showed the minister some objects repatriated from Italy with the support of the Italian authorities. We are doing big efforts to repatriate all objects which left Egypt illegally, with all the world."

There's no specific number, but officials say there are tens of thousands of ancient Egyptian artifacts abroad. Experts complain that laws have actually encouraged trade in antiquities.

MAGDY SHAKER ARCHAEOLOGIST "Before 1983 trade in antiquities was legal. You would go into the Egyptian museum and can buy an original antiquity and travel with it. It was legal. Also all excavation missions were allowed half of what they discovered. A lot of artifacts were taken abroad through these laws. Although it has become outlawed now in Egypt, yet in many countries it's still legal to trade in antiquities and therefore you are not able to retrieve your artifacts from there."

A decade ago a national committee had been established especially for this issue. It had retrieved around one thousand pieces in the last two years. But this is only a small portion of smuggled artifacts abroad. The US is known to be the largest market for stolen Egyptian artifacts in the world, followed by Europe . Some experts are calling for a different approach to retrieve these antiquities.

MAGDY SHAKER ARCHAEOLOGIST "We can benefit from the GATT's intellectual property law. Instead of taking the artifacts we can demand a percentage of the income from ticket sales in museums . Most of the income for international museums comes from the Egyptian artifacts on display, it's the most attractive for tourists. 25% of pieces in the Louvre are from ancient Egypt and 15% of objects at the British museum are Egyptian. They can bring Millions of pounds of revenue."

Another suggestion is for Egypt to close down excavation missions of any country that refuses to hand back smuggled artifacts Currently, there are about 238 international missions working on excavation projects in the country.

YASSER HAKIM CAIRO, EGYPT "Repatriating its ancient treasures is apparently a tough mission but the Egyptian government announced it is adamant to continue efforts to retrieve as many as possible in coordination with the International community. Yasser Hakim CGTN Cairo."