KATHMANDU, May 26: The Ministry of Labor and Transport Management (MoLTM) has designated 170 manpower agencies to send Nepali trainee workers to Japan. [break]
Nepal signed an agreement with Japan International Training Co-operation Organization (JITCO) last year to provide opportunities to Nepali workers to work in Japanese enterprises as industrial trainees.
JITCO contributes to human resource development in developing countries by supporting international trainees and technical interns to come to Japan.
The MoLTM invited applications on two occasions, January 20 and March 2, from Nepali manpower agencies seeking authorization from the government to be involved in the process. Responding to the government´s call, a total 195 agencies expressed interest.
“We have finalized a list of 170 qualified manpower agencies to send workers to Japan. We will provide a list of designated manpower agencies to JITCO soon. Concerned manpower agencies will attempt to bring demands of trainee workers from Japan through JITCO,” said Purna Chandra Bhattrai, joint secretary at the MoLTM.
As per Foreign Employment Regulations, the firms will be selected on the basis of the number of overseas workers they have sent in the past, the existence of their contact offices in five regions, their previous moral records, the companies financial, physical and human resources, their contribution to the national coffer in the past, as well as other criteria.
The government signed an agreement with JITCO -an undertaking of the Japanese government - last year to send Nepali trainee workers through government-designated manpower agencies.
Under a similar agreement with JITCO signed in 2003, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) recently sent six women interns to work in Japanese garment industries. The trainees will remain in Japan for three years in paid internship, and will have to rejoin the Nepalese organizations they represent on return to Nepal.