Japan formally opens door for employment for Nepalis in 14 sectors

Nepal and Japan today signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) for sending 'specified skilled workers' (SSW) paving the way for Nepali workers to go to Japan for employment in 14 specified sectors, though number of Nepali workers Japan will take and cost has yet not been disclosed.
Officiating secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security (MoLESS), Ram Prasad Ghimire and Japanese ambassador to Nepal Masamichi Saigo signed the MoC on behalf of their respected governments in capital today. The MoC will come into force from April 1, 2019.
Nepal has been sending youths to South Korea through the government-to-government (G2G) agreement under Employment Permit System (EPS), which is much safer and most lucrative destination for Nepali youths. Now, the successful and safer process of migration will be replicated with Japan too. 
After signing the MoC, Nepal has joined the list of eight countries authorised to send specified skilled workers to Japan after latter decided last year to loosen the restriction of entry for foreign workers. According to Japanese envoy Saigo, Japan estimates to recruit nearly 304,000 workers in five years from the eight countries including Nepal. "The foreign workers will receive treatment on par with the domestic workers in Japan including remuneration, medical care and other issues," he added.
The new policy of the second biggest economy of Asia will give the foreign workers the status of residence is aimed at addressing the serious labour shortage in Japan by accepting experienced foreign human resources with specific expertise and skills. Under the new programme, Japan will accept skilled workers from eight countries including Nepal in 14 specified sectors ranging from nursing care to aviation industry, according to the Japanese Embassy in Kathmandu.
There are two categories for SSW, who will be recruited under the new policy. Under the first category, workers with required skills will be allowed to stay in Japan for up to five years in total. Workers recruited under this category must have proficiency in Japanese language for daily life and at the workplace.
Similarly, the second category will allow foreigners with expert level skills to work in Japan while being accompanied by their family members.
The recruitment of Nepali workers based on the demand of employers in Japan will be carried out by a separate unit established under the Department of Foreign Employment, according to the ministry that will facilitate the recruitment process through a separate unit. "The unit will call for applicants, facilitating the Japanese side to conduct the language and skills tests and oversee the deployment of the successful applicants to Japan," the ministry added. "The applicants must pass language and sector-specific skills exams which will be conducted by the Japanese side."
According to the ministry, a joint task force has been formed to finalise the mechanism, process and remaining issues on sending Nepali workers. The MoC to send Nepali workers to Japan will establish a basic framework for information partnership in order to ensure smooth and proper sending and accepting specified skilled workers, states a press issued by the Embassy of Japan in Kathmandu after the signing labour deal between the two countries. "This deal will eliminate malicious intermediary organisations and will resolve the problems of sending, accepting and residing in Japan of specified skilled workers," the press note reads, adding that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan enhances the mutual benefits of both countries, through cooperation for proper operation of the system, in collaboration with the relevant ministries and agencies of Japan.

Nepal-Bangladesh trade talk on May 2-5

Nepal and Bangladesh will hold a commerce secretary level meeting from May 2-4 in Dhaka.

"We have no special agenda apart from transit and trade issues," said Surya Silwal, joint secretary at the ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS). "It's Bangladesh's turn to bring agenda this time."

The secretary level meeting will focus on further integration in sub-regional perspective and mutual recognition of each other's testing and standardisation certificates, according to reports in Bangladeshi newspapers. "Officials in the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) said the commerce secretaries of the two countries are expected to devise strategies for the implementation of the relevant clauses of joint communiqué, co-signed by the premiers of India and Bangladesh in New Delhi recently," they reported.

Dhaka had expressed its desire to give Nepal and Bhutan access to Mongla and Chittagong ports. However, it is more likely that the commerce secretary level meeting between Dhaka and New Delhi will be held before a similar meeting between Dhaka and Kathmandu.

Experts said that there are a number of issues in the proposed draft of the Nepal -Bangladesh transit deal. Bangladesh is moving to open a new land route to Nepal and offer it the use of its Mongla port for export of goods to a third country.

Dhaka has sent the draft of a deal to Kathmandu to activate a 1976 transit treaty that would allow landlocked Nepal the use of Mongla port in the Bay of Bengal. Nepal has so far been exporting its goods through Indian ports.

The volume of Bangladesh-Nepal bilateral trade is negligible. Bangladesh's exports to Nepal were worth only $8.1 million against imports amounting to $69 million in fiscal 2008-09. To increase the trade between the two South Asian countries smooth transit facilities have been a major concern.

"Our major concern is to increase volumn of trade between the two countries," Silwal said adding that transit abd trade are linked together.

Poor crops yield to pull growth rate down

The delayed monsoon and erratic distribution of rain caused a reduction in the 2009-10 summer crop production across the country, hitting major crops like paddy and maize.

"Paddy production reduced to 4.02 million metric tonnes (MT) and maize reduced to 1.86 million metric tonnes, pulling down the yield by 11 per cent and four per cent, respectively, compared with last year," said a report jointly published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) Food Security Monitoring Unit and World Food Programme (WFP) Food Security Monitoring and Analysis Unit for the month of February.

"It is anticipated that the country will face a substantial food deficit during the current fiscal year despite the positive outlook for the current winter crop," it said.

In August 2009, MoAC estimated the edible cereal deficit to be 400,000 MT for the current fiscal year compared with the total requirement of 5.4 million MT. "This deficit represented the cereal requirement of seven per cent of the population though the figure will be revised after the winter harvest," according to the report.

The global food market situation is currently not favourable for Nepal. Natural disasters caused substantial regional summer crop losses in countries such as India and the Philippines, which resulted in an increase in the international price of important summer crops like rice. The international price will impact the domestic price though domestic food prices are currently stable at the higher-level. "During the year 2010, food prices will go up," the report said.

Mid-Nepal and Far-West hill and mountain regions were most affected by poor summer crop production and these districts also faced summer crop reduction by up to 30 to 50 per cent, resulting in a situation of high to severe food insecurity amongst the vulnerable population.

According to the IMF report, the macro-economic outlook also is challenging as the real GDP growth is expected to decelerate to three per cent in the current fiscal year due to weak monsoon apart from slowdown in remittance inflows and tighter monetary conditions.

According to the CBS data on sectorwise contribution to GDP, the Agriculture and Forestry sector contributed around 30-35 per cent to the total GDP. Thus, the poor crop yield is going to bring the gross domestic production (GDP) too down to around three per cent.