Kathmandu, September 28

Nepal and Malaysia have finally agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on labour pact today. As per the agreement, from now onwards Malaysian employment companies will have to bear all the necessary expenses of Nepali migrant workers.

“The Malaysian government has also agreed to guarantee free visa and free ticket for Nepali workers, as mentioned in the draft,” said Kumar Raj Kharel, deputy chief of mission, Embassy of Nepal in Malaysia.

“We have almost finalised the draft of the MoU, which will be signed by the concerned ministers of both the countries at an appropriate time,” Kharel told The Himalayan Times via telephone from Malaysia.

A Nepali delegation had left for Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday to hold discussions and finalise the MoU on a bilateral labour agreement between the two countries.

On Wednesday, a three-member team led by Joint Secretary at Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security (MoLESS) Krishna Gyawali and including Tapas Adhikari, chief of South East Asia Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Kabindra Gautam, joint secretary of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs had left for the South East Asian nation, which is one of the most popular labour destinations for Nepali migrants, to hold negotiations.

According to Kharel, the Nepali delegation held discussions with the Malaysian human resources minister and home minister regarding the MoU. “This is the final discussion over the memorandum.”

He also informed that they have agreed to supply Nepali labour force to Malaysia through business-to-business model, under which the private sector of the two countries will engage in hiring and supplying Nepali workers to Malaysia.

Though Nepal had initially sought government-to-government level agreement on supply of labour from Nepal, the plan was found to be ‘infeasible’ for the moment as a huge number of Nepali workers travel to Malaysia every year.

The supply of Nepali workers to Malaysia has been halted since May after the Nepal government cracked down on Immigration Security Clearance and One Stop Centre that had been levying additional charges on Nepali migrant workers.

Since then, the government has not been issuing work permits to Nepali migrant workers aspiring to go to Malaysia.