KATHMANDU: Qatar has agreed to review the labor agreement with Nepal.

The fourth meeting of the Nepal-Qatar Joint Committee held in Kathmandu on Friday agreed to review the labor agreement signed in 2005, among others agenda of the bilateral meeting.

According to the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security, the Qatari side agreed to move ahead as per Nepal’s proposal for the socio-economic reintegration of Nepalis returning from Qatar, the main destination of Nepal’s foreign employment. The Qatari side also agreed to make the Qatar Visa Center organized.

According to the Secretariat of the Minister of Labor, Employment and Social Security, the Qatari government also gave a nod to setting up training centers in all the seven provinces to enhance the skills of migrant workers from Nepal.

Regarding the Qatari side’s request to lift the ban on domestic workers from Nepal to Qatar, the two sides agreed to form a bilateral joint committee and incorporate the committee’s suggestions in course of the review of the 2005 labor agreement.

Earlier, a high-level Qatari delegation met with a team led by the Minister of Labor, Employment and Social Security Krishna Kumar Shrestha to discuss ways to make labor migration more systematic and safe.

Following the Qatari side’s request to lift the ban on domestic workers, Minister Shrestha had told them that a decision would be reached after necessary discussions with various stakeholders. Minister Shrestha said that the process would move forward keeping the safety and welfare of domestic workers in mind.

Earlier, the Parliamentary Committee on Industry and Commerce and Labor and Consumer Welfare had directed the government to allow domestic workers to leave Nepal to go to labor destination if the destination country fulfilled seven conditions set by the parliamentary panel.

The Qatari side responded that it was ready to meet the condition set by the government of Nepal in relation to export of domestic workers.