After signing a labour agreement with Jordan last month, Nepal is gearing up to finalise a similar deal with another Gulf nation-the United Arab of Emirates, one of the most preferred destinations among Nepali migrant workers.

 

Nepal has received a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU), which it had sent to the UAE authority for response.

 

After getting back the draft with UAE’s inputs, a technical team of officials from the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Law, Justice, Constituent Assembly and Parliamentary Affairs is working to finalise the document for signing. “We are revising the draft again and trying to incorporate some other provisions with consultation among our different authorities,” said Shivaram Pokharel, an under-secretary with the Labour Ministry.

 

Nepal had proposed the labour MoU four months ago, with an aim to facilitate several issues concerning Nepali migrant workers in the UAE.

 

Labour Ministry Spokesperson Bhuwan Prasad Acharya said the agreement would be signed soon. “We have completed a round of discussion among ourselves after receiving comments from the UAE side. We will soon prepare the final agreement after discussing with other responsible ministries,” said Acharya. “We are also going through similar agreements the UAE has signed with other countries. Our concern is to include issues that benefit our migrant workers.”

 

Nepal signed a similar MoU with the UAE in 2007, which, according to officials, missed out some significant issues concerning the rights and protection of migrant workers. The proposed MoU, however, has tried to address all these issues, said Pokharel.

 

The deal will make it mandatory for the minimum wage to be mentioned in the agreement between the employer and the worker. A UAE team will be invited to sign the document once the draft is finalised. UAE is the third most popular Gulf country after Qatar and Saudi Arabia among Nepalis seeking employment opportunities abroad.