Pakistan and Italy are establishing a formal bilateral mechanism to combat the trafficking of stolen antiquities, as seizures of smuggled Gandharan and Buddhist artefacts from Pakistani archaeological sites have surged — reaching over $3.2 million in value in 2025 alone. The framework will create a dedicated liaison desk between Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Italy's Carabinieri TPC (Carabinieri per la Tutela del Patrimonio Culturale, a 300-strong specialist art-crime unit widely regarded as the world's leading cultural property police force), enabling real-time access to "Leonardo", the world's largest stolen-art database, alongside joint training, intelligence sharing, and technology transfer. A formal memorandum of understanding is expected to be signed in Islamabad next month, with the first cohort of FIA officers set to train at the Carabinieri's Rome academy in the third quarter of 2026.