Kathmandu, May 8:

Nepal is most likely to fail to send skilled labourers to South Korea in the year 2007 under Employment Permit System (EPS), thanks to delay in enacting new foreign employment legislation.

Although the South Korean government has already decided to enlist Nepal as a source country to import skilled manpower under EPS, the Nepal government has yet to enact new Foreign Employment Act, paving way for the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for recruiting and sending the labourers.

Two months back, Ramesh Lekhak, minister of state for labour and transport management had said that the MoU would be signed by the end of March, following the Korean government’s approval to enlist Nepal as a source country under EPS.

However, the signing of the MoU could not materialise yet, despite exchange of draft between Nepal and Korea. It got further snagged since the existing Foreign Employment Act-1985

doesn’t allow the government to recruit and send labourers for foreign employment, as EPS is completely a government-to-government process.

The government tabled a bill on new Foreign Employment Act on March 9 amending the existing provisions in the Interim Parliament. However, it could not be passed from the House since many parliamentarians voiced more amendments in the Bill. The government later forwarded the Bill to the Employment and Industrial Labour Relations Committee for necessary changes and consultation with the political parties.

Nepal-Korea Development Council (NKDC), a group of returnees of South Korea, today revealed that Nepal would lose the opportunity for sending Nepali labourers within this year under EPS, if the government fails to sign the MoU to this regard as soon as possible.

Stating that nothing has happened yet, Ghambhir Gurung, president of NKDC, said that Nepal is most likely to lose the quota for 2007. “It takes a couple months more time even after signing of the MoU between the government for skill training, language and orientation,” he added.

Further delay means a great loss for the country and its thousands of aspirant job seekers, said Gurung adding that an immediate signing of the MoU would pave way for further action, as all necessary recruitment and selection procedures will be finalised only after the accord is signed.

According to him, NKDC submitted a memorandum seeking their intervention for an immediate action upon formalising the EPS and signing the MoU to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, Speaker of the House Subash Nembang, Labour Minister of State, eight political parties and the members of Industrial Labour Relations Committee.

NKDC has also asked the government to formulate a separate policy to send Nepali labourers under EPS and set up skill training institutes suiting the demand of South Korea.

The South Korean Employment of Foreign Workers Act-2003, which came into effect since August 1, 2004 introduced the EPS and came into full implementation from this year onwards. EPS allows the Korean employers to hire over 300 trained technical manpower from abroad for three years.