The government is mulling over a formal agreement with Mauritius to send Nepali migrant workers to the Indian Ocean island nation.

A team from Mauritius government had expressed interest to hire Nepali workers during the International Labour Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland last month.

The Mauritian government had approached the Nepali team led by the Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Gokarna Bista during the conference, said the Labour Secretary Mahesh Prasad Dahal.

Later, they had sent a formal letter to the ministry expressing their interest to employ Nepali workers.

“We had a discussion on the prospects of sending Nepali workers to Mauritius. Now, we are working on formal agreement to send our workers there,” said Secretary Dahal.

The government plans Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mauritius to send Nepali workers. Once the draft document is prepared and approved by concerned the ministries, it will be sent to the Mauritius government.

Nepali government has seen the new labour destination of Mauritius having better opportunities and facilities for its workers.   

“Work environment is good in Mauritius. We believe salary will also be comparatively better than other countries where most of our workers go. The country also has a large population of Indian origin that would help Nepali workers in adapting easily,” Dahal said.

Nepali workers’ job prospects are bright in agriculture, hospitality sector, and tourism industry once both countries seal the agreement before sending workers to the Island nation.

During the ILO conference, European country Portugal had also expressed similar interest in hiring Nepali workers because of labour shortage there. Since Minister Bista assumed office, the Labour Ministry has stepped up its efforts to review existing labour agreements and draft new ones with countries ready to welcome Nepali workers.

Currently, Nepal has bilateral labour agreements with Qatar and Jordan for migrant workers whereas it has only MoUs with other destination countries.

Nepal is considering reviewing labour agreement signed with Qatar in 2005. 

We have sent a draft of the proposed labour agreement with the Government of the Sultanate of Oman.

“We are awaiting Oman government’s response. Our main aim is to have labour agreements with major destination countries so that our workers get better facilities and services and their concerns are addressed,” said Dahal.

In a recent meeting with the United Arab of Emirates (UAE) ambassador, Nepal government had raised the issue of renewing the MoU that was also considered by the UAE. Nepal and the UAE government had signed the MoU in 2007.

“The UAE wants to hire our technical manpower so we have proposed a labour agreement. They have been positive to our proposal. We have already held preliminary discussion on this matter,” said Dahal.

The ministry is considering details of labour agreement that could be appropriate for major labour destination countries, especially in the Gulf region, he concluded.