Guy Ryder, director general of the International Labour Organisation, met Minister for Labour and Employment Surya Man Gurung on Wednesday. 

Ryder arrived in Kathmandu on Tuesday on a three-day visit to mark 50 years of ILO’s development partnership with Nepal.  

The duo agreed to forge a common view point on international issues, according to Dilli Bastola of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, who was present during the meeting. 

Minister Gurung extended thanked ILO for it support in the labour and employment sector in Nepal and congratulated Ryder for his appointment as the ILO director-general for a second term. 

Sharing that some 500,000 youths are forced to seek overseas employment every year in lack of adequate employment opportunities on their soil, Minister Gurung urged the UN agency for additional support to regulate and manage overseas employment sector in Nepal. 

In response, Director-General Ryder pledged ILO’s continued support. 

Ryder also lauded Nepal’s efforts to ensure safety and regulations for the labour sector of the country. 

In a bid to make foreign employment sector safe, Ryder called on Nepal to prioritise signing of labour agreements with labour destination countries. 

Director-General Ryder also extended gratitude to Nepal for remaining signatory to various conventions and resolutions of the ILO and expressed his confidence that it would also sign the other important ILO conventions.