KATHMANDU : The eighth Asia Pacific regional meeting and First Regional Experts’ Conference of the Non-Resident Nepalis Association (NRNA) has urged the government to rescue its citizens stranded in foreign countries due to the global COVID-19 pandemic free of cost through the Foreign Employment Welfare Fund.
The meeting held virtually for two days called on the government to promptly and free of cost repatriate citizens stranded abroad in the countries of the Asia Pacific region and the Gulf region due to job loss, visa expiration or other reasons, and as a result, are at risk of hunger in the midst of the pandemic.
The conference also requested to increase the number of international flights to and from Nepal for creating an environment conducive to repatriating the stranded citizens in a smooth manner. A decision has been made for the collaboration between the NRNA and the government for the reintegration and employment of the Nepali migrant labourers who have returned from abroad employment.
The conference stressed on the need for diversification of the foreign employment sector and also urged the government to explore countries that provide appropriate salary, which are less risky and which have human rights and social security facilities, and make arrangements for sending Nepali workers to these countries. It also called for ensuring the social security of the citizens in foreign employment.
The conference has likewise urged all NRNs to contribute to creating job opportunities within the country by utilizing their knowledge, skills and technology that they have acquired abroad in sectors like modern agriculture, education, health and technology among others. It also emphasized on the need for implementing the Labour Information Bank in collaboration with the NRNs and on making the system of maintaining statistics along with skills more effective.
Appreciating the works carried out so far by NRNA Women Forum, the conference decided to extend the required cooperation regarding development of entrepreneurship in women, increase investment in women–run enterprises, give continuity to the skill development training launched with the initiatives of the Women Forum and to ensure the participation of women in every sector of the NRNs’ campaign, Robinda Prasad Shrestha (Govinda), the NRNA Asia Pacific Coordinator, said.
Two hundred NRNA representatives of 25 countries participated in the conference whose main theme was ‘Migrant Nepali Workers: Repatriation Home, Reintegration and Employment.’ Minister for Foreign Affairs, Pradeep Kumar Gyawali inaugurated the conference on Saturday.
