Government Preparing to reach an agreement at the government level to send security guards to Qatar

Entrepreneurs protest, confusion within the ministry

Kathmandu. 

The government has said that a government level agreement (GTG) is being signed with the Qatari government to send the required security guards from Nepal to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. However, preliminary bilateral talks have not yet begun for GTG.

The government, which has negotiated with Korea, Israel and Japan to send workers from the government level, has said it is trying to adopt the same modality with Qatar in recruiting security guards. However, after Minister for Labor, Employment and Social Security Gauri Shankar Chaudhary did not even discuss and prepare for the GTG at the initial stage, confusion has increased within the Ministry of Labor.

At the closing ceremony of the refresher training on the new course of orientation, Labor Minister Chaudhary had said that preparations were being made to send workers to Qatar through the GTG system.

Ministry officials, however, said that formal discussions and exchange of letters for GTG have not yet begun at the government level. Hari Prasad Mainali, Joint Secretary for Foreign Employment Affairs at the Ministry of Labor, said that the issue arose during a meeting between the Minister and the Qatari Ambassador. "So far there has been no formal exchange of letters or drafts to move GTG forward," he said. "Now the process is moving forward."

Kumar Prasad Dahal, director general of the Department of Foreign Employment, said that a separate agreement was needed as the 2005 labor agreement with Qatar did not cover the issue of taking Nepali youth to the Qatari police. According to him, if there is a GTG agreement, Nepali youths will be able to go by paying a maximum of Rs 10,000.

He said that those who went to the Qatari police now paid up to Rs 800,000, workers would get more benefits if they could do GTG.

Entrepreneur's protest

Manpower businessmen are protesting against the government's preparations after Minister Chaudhary said that he had discussed the issue with the Qatari Ambassador to Nepal for GTG.

The Nepal Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs Association, an umbrella organization of manpower companies, has formally expressed dissatisfaction after the minister said that discussions would be held with a team of experts soon to amend the old labor agreement to send workers to Qatar.

According to the association, the tendency of the government to take over the business and trade is against the constitution and law of Nepal after they have prepared the entire infrastructure by investing labor and resources. In a statement, the association said that the constitution of Nepal would violate the fundamental right of citizens to do business if the minister's statement was acted upon.

‘Nepal's law outlaws monopolies by promoting competition and fair trade. The tendency to be a businessman is regrettable as the democratic government has to create a conducive environment for entrepreneurs to do business, 'the union said.

"If the GTG agreement is signed with the Qatari government, the Nepal Foreign Employment Businessmen's Association will hold strong protest programs."

Concerns within the ministry

Qatar had earlier said it was ready to do so. In the Industry, Commerce, Consumer and Labor Committee of the Parliament, the then Minister of Labor Gokarna Bista had said that an environment would be created in which one would not have to pay a single rupee to go to Qatar for employment.

At that time, the officials of the Qatari embassy in Nepal had said that a special 'employment village' would be set up at the government level for the process of taking workers. Where Qatari employers were told to come forward with their demands. There, the concept was introduced that workers can be recruited in a Qatari company by meeting the employer directly.

Stating that the preparation of the agreement for GTG has reached the final stage, Labor Minister Bisht had recently backtracked on the Qatar government's proposal. Bisht had proposed a labor agreement with Malaysia after realizing that only certain interest groups would benefit from the mechanism called GTG.