Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit attends the annual meeting at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, September 8, 2016. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

CAIRO, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Culture Minister Helmy el Namnam urged Monday the need to recover the Arab documents looted in the past, state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.

His remarks came at an annual celebration of Arab Document Day held at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, the capital of Egypt.

"A country without documents is a country without memory, history and rights," MENA quoted him as saying.

"There are documents in Arab countries that were subjected to theft and looting," he said.

The minister also urged the Arab League to intensify efforts to preserve Arab documents which represent the history and heritage of the Arab world.

Western countries seized thousands of documents and archives when they colonized Arab countries in the last century.