Nepal and Qatar agree to renew bilateral labour agreement (audio report)

March 22, Kathmandu: Nepal and Qatar have decided to renew the bilateral labour agreement between the countries.

The decision was made at a meeting held between Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security of Nepal, Krishna Kumar Shrestha, and Labour Minister of Qatar, Dr Ali bin Samikh Al Marri. Minister Shrestha is currently on a visit to the gulf state.

Minister Shrestha briefed his Qatari counterpart about the draft formulated by the Government of Nepal (GoN) for renewing the bilateral labour agreement.

The Secretariat of Minister Shrestha informed that a joint-task force would finalize the draft soon, and Nepal and Qatar would sign the agreement amidst a ceremony in Kathmandu.

Both the countries had signed the agreement in 2005 in a bid to make labour migration safe , orderly and regular.

On the occasion, both the ministers held discussions on the implementation of decisions made by the fourth meeting of the Nepal-Qatar Joint Committee organised in Kathmandu in December 2021.

Nepal and Qatar had agreed to revise the labour agreement during the meeting of the joint committee.

During the meeting between the two labour ministers, various issues including social security of Nepali workers, safety at workplace, health facility, and arrangement of 24-hour insurance were also discussed

There are more than 300,000 Nepali workers in Qatar. Similarly, Qatari Minister Marri expressed his interest to recruit Nepali workers for the FIFA World Cup 2022 going to be held in Qatar.