Speakers at a program organized by the Media Forum in Kathmandu on 12 June echoed calls for reforms in the current law governing foreign employment to better respond to the needs of the industry that constitutes the backbone of the country’s economy. One of the program’s speakers, Minister of State for Labor and Transport Management Ramesh Lekhak, expressed the need for a new policy that would make the foreign employment industry “transparent, dignified and low cost" and at the same time would ensure the security of Nepalese workers abroad. This view is supported by the Nepal Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs Association.
The amount of five million euros was pledged by the European Commission (EC) to assist Bhutanese refugees and other people affected by conflict in Nepal. Two million of this amount would go towards feeding some 107,000 Bhutanese refugees, mostly Hindus of Nepalese origin, who are living in seven camps in southeast Nepal. The rest of the money is intended for improving the living conditions and food security of about 170,000 people living in remote rural areas of Nepal.
Sources: “Lekhak stresses policy on foreign employment," The Rising Nepal, 11 June 2006; AFP, “EC pledges millions to help Bhutan and Nepal refugees," Daily Times, 14 June 2006