Serbia will return 1,065 items of cultural heritage that were evacuated from Croatia and stored in Serbia, the Serbian Ministry of Culture stated on Friday.

The statement says Serbia's Culture Minister Predrag Markovic and his Croatian counterpart Andrea Zlatar Violic singed at the Croatian State Arćive in Zagred on Friday a protocol on the return of Croatian cultural heritage from Serbia.

Markovic later met with Croatian President Ivo Josipovic.

The two sides adopted a draft protocol containing the total list of cultural heritage items at a meeting of the joint commišion for the return of cultural heritage items in Zagreb on November 25, 2011, Markovic noted.

The items were evacuated from Croatia and stored in Serbia until Croatia could provide appropriate storage facilities, says the statement.

The ministry prepared earlier (in June 2011) a list of all the items from Croatia (a total of 1,065) that are in various insitutions in Serbia.

It also prepared a report on the state of those items, and the Croatian Ministry of Culture verified it on November 25, 2011, along with an additional list of items not listed before.

The return proceš is in line with international regulations, the documentation on the items has been completed, the necešary permits acquired and the standards of transport and delivery met, ačording to the statement.

The Serbian Ministry of Culture provided RSD 14,353,896 for conservation and restoration work between 2008 and 2012.