Italian and Chinese museums are cracking down on organizations involved in art theft and trafficking.

The bilateral agreement aimed at the prevention of illegal art trade between China and Italy was signed yesterday by the chiefs of the two countries' cultural heritage administrations as a kick-off event of the "Year of Italy in China."

"The illicit flowing of antiquities from China or Italy into each other's borders is expected to be blocked more effectively under the agreement," said Shan Jixiang, chief of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH).

"The agreement between the two countries will set an example for the world, where art theft, being closely linked to drugs, arms, and people trafficking and prostitution, should be given more priority than it usually receives," he said.

Both the Chinese and Italian cultural heritage administrations will set up offices specializing in information gathering and exchanging, in accordance with the agreement.

China and Italy are both ancient civilizations that are the victims of tomb raiders, museum thieves, smugglers and international art dealers who have formed a complete and efficient network, according to He Shuzhong, deputy director of SACH's Law and Policy Department.

"In the markets of Hong Kong, Europe and the US, there are all kinds of Chinese cultural relics that have been newly excavated, and no one can give proof of their origin," he said.

Meanwhile, some major museums in the world are constantly increasing their treasures by legal and illegal acquisitions, according to Hugues de Varine, French museologist and former director of the International Council of Museums in Paris.

Last month in Italy, prosecutors put a US art dealer and former curator of the world famous J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles on trial for conspiring to import illegally excavated Roman and Etruscan antiquities for the Getty's collection.

(China Daily January 21, 2006)