Kathmandu: A labour agreement has been reached between Nepal and Saudi Arabia. During the sideline bilateral meeting and discussion on Tuesday, the landmark agreement took place between Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security, Sharat Singh Bhandari, and Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tariq Al Hamad, for sending Nepali workforce to Saudi Arabia, informed Minister Bhandari’s private secretariat.
According to National News Agency Nepal, Minister Bhandari shared that Saudi Arabia has agreed to immediately sign two pacts on skill certification of general and skill-based workers programme while keeping the domestic labour agreement unchanged. It may be noted that Nepal has given a nod to the draft agreement related to the general labour with Saudi Arabia.
“An agreement for sending general workers to Saudi Arabia has already been reached. Yet, signing on the agreement is left,” said Minister Bhandari. “Saudi Arabia had insisted that the general agreement could be signed only after the domestic workers’ agreement. The current meeting has decided to proceed with the already reached pact and to do further groundwork on the draft of the domestic labour agreement.”
He apprised the Saudi side of the directive of Nepal’s parliamentary committee, noting that the domestic labour agreement should be made after concluding the labour agreement between the two countries. Minister Bhandari also pointed out the necessity of a pilot project to that end.