Ministry of Commerce And Supplies - Enhanced Integrated ...

N T I S2010movement of workers as the process is complicated, non-transparent and costly; and the second is theimmigration policies. The other problems include lack of uniformity in training and standards of workers, lackof a uniform process for the evaluation of quality and skills of workers. The barriers to export of labour servicefrom Nepal can be discussed under the following points: Nepal’s export of labour services is not well organized on the government side. Bureaucraticrequirements are centralized in Kathmandu and difficult to access for potential migrant workers. Thelack of effective Nepalese embassies or consulates in receiving countries means very little support,monitoring and supervision by the GoN when needed. Nepalese government officials are ill-equippedto protect Nepalese workers from problems faced in receiving countries such as verbal and physicalabuse; threat and mental harassment; impounding of passports by employers; long, irregular andarduous working hours; salary not provided according to contract; and lack of advisory and counselingservices in the receiving country; There is extensive use of informal channels, which puts migrant workers at risk of abuse both in thereceiving country and by agents who do not provide proper documents to workers. This tends toaggravate the lack of proper and adequate pre-departure orientation and training; Potential migrant workers have difficulty securing finance to cover the initial costs of their travel. Theyalso often lack of information on safe channels to remit salaries; There is a lack of services aimed at easing the reintegration of returnees; Women migrant workers face problems and risks that are unique to them and which the GoN is illequippedto address, including protecting them in the receiving countries against violence and sexualabuse, psychological and physical trauma or work that is risk-prone.Export of Engineering ServicesEngineering services were liberalized as part of Nepal’s accession to the WTO in April 2004. There are norestrictions of this service under Modes 1 and 2. Under Mode 3, up to 66 per cent foreign equity capital isallowed for firms incorporated in Nepal. Under Mode 4, the number of foreign employees cannot exceed 15per cent of the number of local employees (including managers, executives, and specialists) as per Nepal’shorizontal commitments that apply to other sectors as well.Most exports of engineering services take place through the actual movement of engineers outside thecountry. Based on an interview with the Foreign Employment Association, the percentage of skilled labouramong migrant workers is around 2.5 per cent, including engineers and surveyors as well. In addition, someengineering firms have started exporting computer-based designs to foreign companies (See Chapter 2 fordetails).There is potential for exporting engineering services only because of the availability of engineers. There areabout 20 engineering colleges in Nepal producing some 2,000 engineers every year. Of this, Nepal has anabsorption capacity of approximately 500 engineers, forcing the rest to remain unemployed, seek employmentin other fields, or seek foreign employment in their areas of expertise.10.4 Overall RecommendationsActionable recommendations are listed in the Action Matrix, and more detailed sector-by-sectorrecommendations are described in Chapter 2. Still, a number of broad cross-cutting issues can usefully beraised in these concluding paragraphs.224NEPAL TRADE INTEGRATION STRATEGY 2010BACKGROUND REPORT