Saturday, December 15, 2007

Nepal, Qatar to ink labour deal

Nepal and Qatar have agreed to sign an addendum protocol to bilateral labour pact signed some three years ago to bring the accord into practice at the earliest.
A five-member delegation led by Abdul Rahaman Mohammed Al-Khulaisi, joint secretary at the Qatari Labour Ministry today held discussions with the senior officials at Ministry of Labour and Transport Management (MoLTM) today. The meeting agreed to implement the bilateral labour pact after signing of the addendum protocol for which a Nepali official delegation has been invited to Doha.
"The protocol has no major changes or additions to the existing one but it will come into implementation once it is signed," said Keshar Bahadur Baniya, director general at the department of Labour and Employment Promotion. A high level Nepali team will go to Doha to ink the protocol following the approval of the ministerial council here, he added.
The meeting finalised the contents of the protocol, which specifies the responsible authorities of both the countries to oversee labour related issues and implement it as per the spirit of the accord.
A joint committee including representatives from both the countries will be formed to review employment opportunities in the recipient country. The review meet will be held twice a year alternately in Nepal and Qatar.
Nepali workers will be provided the remuneration and facilities according to the labour law of the host country. The protocol will remain an integral part of the labour pact and be effective as long as the pact exists.
Qatar has recently emerged as the most popular destination among Nepalis and has already employed over 1,50,000 Nepali workers.
During the first four months of current fiscal year, a total of 26,732 Nepali workers left for Qatar. This Gulf country has recently overtaken Malaysia as the most popular destination for Nepali jobseekers among the Gulf countries.
Nepal and Qatar had signed the bilateral labour pact on March 21, 2005 in Doha.

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