NRNA urges government to rescue Nepalis stranded abroad free of cost

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 the 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 repatriate promptly and free of cost the citizens stranded abroad including in the countries of the Asia Pacific region and the Gulf region due to job loss, at risk of hunger and the pandemic, whose visa term has expired and for other reasons. The conference has also requested to increase the number of international flights to and from Nepal for creating environment conducive for repatriating the stranded citizens in a smooth manner.

A decision has been made for collaboration between the NRNA and the government for the reintegration and employment of the Nepali migrant labours who have returned from abroad employment. The conference stressed on the need of diversification of the foreign employment sector and also urged the government to explore the destination countries providing appropriate salary, which are less risky and which have facilities like human rights and social security, 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 the NRNs to contribute to creating job opportunities within the country by utilizing their knowledge, skills and technology that they gained abroad in modern agriculture, education, health and technology among others. It has also emphasized on the need of implementing the Labour Information Bank in collaboration with the NRNs and on making the system of maintaining statistics along with skills effective.

Appreciating the works carried out so far by NRNA Women Forum, the conference has decided to extend the required cooperation regarding development of entrepreneurship in women, increasing investment in women –run enterprises, giving continuity to the skill development training launched with the initiatives of the Women Forum and to ensuring 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 meeting with the main theme 'Migrant Nepali Workers: Repatriation Home, Reintegration and Employment'. The main theme of the First Knowledge Conference was 'Exchange of Knowledge among Nepalis: Opportunities and Challenges for Entrepreneurs due to COVID-19 Pandemic'. Minister for Foreign Affairs, Pradeep Kumar Gyawali had inaugurated the conference on Saturday.