KATHMANDU: The Nepal Democratic Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs’ Forum (NDFEEF) held its third annual general meeting today and donated a million rupees for the construction of the Nepali Congress’ central office building.

Nepal sees a gross domestic product (GDP) of over 20 per cent per year while the national industrial sector contributes less than eight per cent. A total of Rs 200 billion comes into the country purely through remittance and foreign employment.

Speaking at the programme and supporting the cause of foreign employment ntrepreneurs, former finance minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat said, “Remittance coming into the country is one of the main sources of economic progress, and the only negative factor we need to contain is the exploitation of labour which the forum is looking into.”

Regarding the central office building of the Nepali Congress party, Dr Mahat added that it would be the largest party building in the country spread over 34,000 square feet.

Minister for Labour and Transport Management Mohammed Aftab Alam said that foreign employment has to be countered as it is very short term-based and that is a

challenge to organize it methodically. “We need to make use of resources that are available within Nepal and generate lucrative employment as foreign employment cannot be depended on forever.”

According to forum president Tilak Bahadur Ranabhat, approximately 600 organizations in the country are working to generate more foreign employment along with providing security to these employees by ensuring that they are not exploited in any way.

Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala, who was meant to chair the programme, was unable to attend due to health reasons but sent a statement mentioning that though foreign employment was good for the country’s economic growth, too many youth are looking to go abroad and work. He stated that the country needs the youth to stay home and work to develop the country.

The forum for the past three years has been working to ensure that the rights of migrant workers are protected.