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Nepal to ink labour pacts with UAE, Mauritius during PM Oli’s Geneva visit

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli leaves for China, in Kathmandu, on Tuesday, June 19, 2018.

Kathmandu, June 5

Nepal is to sign labour agreements with the UAE and Mauritius on the sidelines of the ILO General Assembly in Geneva next week, officials say.

The two pacts, currently under consideration at the Office of the Council of Ministers, will be passed by the Cabinet before Prime Minister Oli’s scheduled departure on June 8, says a source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The agreements will be signed by labour minister Gokarna Bista, who is accompanying the Prime Minister, and his counterparts from the UAE and Mauritius.

When the pact with Mauritius is signed, the island nation will become the first country in Africa to ink such a pact with Nepal. The agreement with the UAE will replace an earlier deal between the two countries, which was criticised for not addressing issues raised by Nepali workers. A source at the ministry of labour said that the two agreements have been modeled after the deal Nepal recently signed with Malaysia. “We have reached important agreements about making sure that workers don’t have to pay a penny to get jobs in the two countries. We have also reached an understanding over the economic and social security of the workers,” the source said.

After the agreement is signed, Nepali workers who secure a job in the UAE will get to keep their passports with themselves. This means that any migrant worker who wishes to return to Nepal by terminating his contract can do so without hassles. Similarly, if the worker faces charges in court, the employer will have to pay for his/her lawyer and provide translation services.

Meanwhile, Mauritius has been seen as an attractive destination for Nepali workers as there is a sizeable population of Hindi speakers on the island. Similarly, the African state, with a mild climate, is making rapid economic progress.

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