Nepal on Monday signed a labour agreement with Malaysia, the most preferred job destination for Nepali migrant workers, in Kathmandu.

Nepali Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security Gokarna Bista and Malaysian Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Recruitment, Employment, and Repatriation of Workers amidst a special function in the Capital.

As per the agreement, Nepali migrant workers aspiring to work in Malaysia will not have to pay any fees for the job in South-East Asian nation. Employers will be responsible for all the expenses on behalf of the Nepali workers including recruitment service charge, two-way tickets, visa fee, medical check-up and security screening of the worker. Worker’s initial investment for medical check-up and security screening will be refunded to them in the first month of their job in Malaysia.

Press Statement on Memorandum of Understanding between the government of Malaysia and the government of Nepal on the employment of workers pic.twitter.com/mtfPzshnRO

— M. Kula Segaran (@mkula) October 29, 2018

The service charge to be paid to recruitment agencies have been fixed at equivalent to the amount of 15 days of salary of the workers, but the workers do not need to pay any amount to manpower companies in Nepal.

With the signing of the agreement, the labour contract of the workers has been decreased to 2 years from earlier provision of 3 years. Likewise, monthly salary of the workers will be deposited in the bank account of the worker on every 7th of the month.

The labour pact will allow Nepali workers to come back to Nepal on 15 days of leave in case of death of immediate family members. The agreement has put the responsibility of sending dead bodies of workers back to Nepal on employer. 

Hailing the pact as a milestone in the country’s labour migration governance, Minister Bista said, “This is a historic moment in bilateral relations of both the countries. The labour agreement has further heightened the Nepal-Malaysia relations.”

“The labour pact is building block for host and source countries’ employment sector. It is a milestone in Nepal’s labour governance within the country and abroad.”

A technical joint working group, consisting of officials from both countries, which will be working for effective implementation of the understanding and devising the required mechanism for resuming the labour migration to Malaysia.

After government scrapped various fees imposed on Nepali workers in last May, departure of Malaysia has been suspended.

“The MoU has been brought to avoid any form of exploitation of workers and human trafficking by the external agents,” Malaysian minister Kulasegaran told the reporters during a press conference after the signing ceremony.