Experts on Friday said the changing political dynamics in the Middle East could pose a serious challenge to the fate of Nepali migrant workers and urged the government to come up with a clear strategy.

Addressing a conference organised by the Centre for South Asian Studies and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in the Capital, Prof Jaya Raj Acharya called on the government to prepare a strategy to deal with the unfolding situation.

Former Ambassador Sambhu Ram Simkhada said the implications for the country will be huge if a large number of the migrants working in the Gulf suddenly come home.

TU lecturer Resham Bahadur Thapa Parajuli said the remittances were not used in the productive sector and urged the government to formulate a policy so that a certain proportion of the remittance will be used for infrastructure development.

Dhan Bahadur Oli, under-secretary at the Foreign Ministry, said the government was working on creating a reliable database of Nepali migrants, but admitted that inter-agency cooperation was poor.

More than 2.2 million Nepalis work abroad as migrant workers. Though a significant portion of them is in India, the Nepali population in the Middle East is rising fast.

Published on: 17 December 2011 | The Kathmandu Post