Kathmandu, June 25: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha has said that an understanding has been made with Kuwait to provide employment to additional 200,000 Nepalis there.

DPM Shrestha said so at a press meet held today upon his arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport after taking part in the the 19th Ministerial Meeting of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) held in Tehran, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the other day.

DPM Shrestha had a bilateral meeting with Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Kuwait, on the sidelines of the ACD meeting.

During my meeting with the Foreign Affairs Minister of Kuwait, an understanding has been made to increase the number of Nepali migrant workers to 300,000 from existing 100,000 and open the Embassy of Kuwait in Kathmandu, said DPM Shrestha.

He also highlighted that Russia has agreed to return Nepalis working in the Russian army and that the process will begin after finalising the modality.

DPM Shrestha had a bilateral meeting with Andrei Rudenko, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, on the sidelines of the ACD Ministerial meeting.

During the meeting I raised particularly 5 issues, including the returning of the Nepali nationals who died while serving in the Russian army, informing us about the number of Nepalis working in the Russian army, treatment and compensation to the wounded and returning all those Nepalis working in the Russian army by scraping any contract they have made and giving priority to six Nepali nationals held in Ukraine while working in the Russian army during the exchange of prisoners of war (PoW) with Ukraine, said DPM and Foreign Minister Shrestha.

In response, Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Rudenko said that Russia was ready to return the bodies of the dead and and also those working in the army, but a modality had to be finalised in this regard. He also said that process was initiated to provide compensation to Nepalis who died while working in the Russian army.

In his telephone conversation a few weeks back with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, DPM and Foreign Minister Shrestha had asked for providing compensation to those who died while working in the Russian army and send back Nepalis working in the army.

Published on: 26 June 2024 | The Rising Nepal