Nepal, Japan ink labor agreement

The government of Nepal and Japan inked MoU in Nepal's Kathmandu on Monday. As per the pact, Nepali workers would get the status of 'Residence of Specified Skilled Workers' in Japan.

Kathmandu: Nepal and Japan have signed a labour pact under which Nepali workers residing in Japan will receive the status of 'Specified Skilled Workers' (SSW).

The signed pact will come into effect from April 1 and would not include those who went to Japan earlier.

Ram Prasad Ghimire, Joint Secretary at Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security and Masamichi Saigo, Japanese Ambassador to Nepal signed the pact on Monday.

As per the Memorandum of Cooperation, a separate unit will be established under the Department of Foreign Employment (DOFE) to facilitate the recruitment the process of Nepali workers with the status of residence of SSW including call for applicants, facilitating the Japanese side to conduct the language and skills tests and overseeing the deployment of successful applicants to Japan.

The MoC also states that a joint committee with representatives from both sides has been established to ensure the proper implementation of the MoC and to take necessary corrective measures to improve the recruitment, employment and repatriation of Nepali workers with the status of residence of SSW.

On the basis of the agreement, Japan is planning to take Nepal migrant workers to work in 14 sectors including industrial, nursing, construction and sanitation. As per the Japanese plan, a total of 345,150 workers are expected to be flown in the first five years which includes 60,000 nurses and 53,000 workers for restaurants.

All those workers will flow to Japan from Nepal as per the South Korean model and they will be paid a minimum salary of Nepal rs. 200,000 per months after they match the eligibility criteria.

Nepal had proposed to send workers to Japan through the government during the discussion between the technical teams of the two countries on January 16 to decide the process for sending workers.

Japan will take those workers from Nepal, Vietnam, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Mongolia. Japan has already implemented a new visa system to take migrant workers.