Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his German counterpart on measures to stop the sale of stolen antiquities from Syria and Iraq in the German art and antiquities market.

Preventing the sale of stolen antiquities from Syria and Iraq remains part of international efforts to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), co-hosted, with US Secretary of State John Kerry, a meeting of 21 European and Middle East coalition countries in London on 22 January, including Germany. The meeting reviewed our efforts to degrade and defeat ISIL, not just through military force but by addressing the underlying factors such as financing. Agreement was reached by all present to further the work in countering all avenues of ISIL’s finances.