Kathmandu, July 21:

A much-awaited bilateral labour pact between Nepal and South Korea is finally being realised, when labo-ur ministers of two countries ink a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

A high-level Nepali team led by Ramesh Lekhak, minister of state for labour and transport management, today left for Seoul to sign the pact with South Korea. Signing of the MoU will pave the way for Nepali government to send labo-urers to South Korea.

“Most likely the signing ceremony will be held on Monday,” said Lekhak, before leaving for Seoul. He also expressed that Nepal would try its best to send the Nepali labourers under employment permit system (EPS) within this year.

The cabinet meeting last Monday had approved the MoU and delegated autho-rity to state minister Lekh-ak to sign the MoU on behalf of Nepal. Once signed, it will pave the way to Nep-al government to send job aspirants to South Korea.

South Korea had formally invited Nepali authorities to sign the MoU last week. According to Udhav Baskota, spokesperson at the labour ministry, the MoU will fix the criteria for Nepali job aspirants, along with the worker-selection procedures and venues, process to remit earnings, required qualifications, criteria to recruit them by Korean companies, appointing agencies that receive Nepali workers in Korea, among others.

Under the MoU, both countries will open supervision offices at each other’s capital to oversee labo-ur related issues. The MoU will also include ways of settling disputes along with labour rights and perks and benefits that Nepali workers enjoy.

The Interim Legislature Parliament on May 31 had passed a bill to clear the way for the government to send job aspirants in countries having diplomatic relations with Nepal.