Poland could invest in hydro, food processing

Polish ambassador to Nepal Piotr Klodkowski has said that his country could invest in hydropower and food processing industries in Nepal. Poland has good experience in these sectors, he said, during an interaction at Reporters' Club today.

"Polish investors have been waiting for a suitable investment environment in Nepal," he said, adding that political stability is a must to attract investment. "The Polish people have only heard about the instability in Nepal and do not know about other better things in the country," he said.

According to him, about 10,000 people from Poland visit Nepal every year. "We have to try to convert them into goodwill ambassadors to attract investment," he said. The envoy said that close relations between Nepal and Poland would be a promotional factor to boost trade and investment. We could develop it through educational and cultural exchanges, Klodkowski added.

He assured to support Nepal in its transformation. "Poland is ready to help transform Nepal through the experience of the Polish model," he said.

Honorary consul-general of Poland to Nepal Lokmanya Golchha said that Nepal and Poland have good prospects for bilateral trade. "We had a barter system earlier, whereby we had to send jute and import other necessary goods," he reminisced about trade four decades back.

Poland has invested in the bakery sector in Nepal. The Polish government has shown interest in expanding the Polish Institute to Nepal to build cultural ties between the two countries.

Nepali workers cheated, claims minister

Labour and Transport Management Minister Mohammed Aftab Alam today claimed that there is no demand for Nepali labourers in Poland and Ukraine.
"Due to the global economic crisis there is no demand for Nepali labourers in Poland," Alam said adding that Nepal is still investigating the labour demand from Ukraine as the companies that had asked for Nepali labourers are reportedly closed.
According to him, a number of Nepali youths migrate as labourers to foreign lands for employment opportunities. "But due to irregularities they are cheated and exploited," he adding that the ministry is investigating the demands of foreign employment agencies.
In the fiscal year 2008-09, a total of 2,19,965 Nepali migrant workers -- including 2,801 for South Korea under EPS -- left for various labour destinations. However, the number of migrant workers declined after the major labour receiving destination countries were hit by global financial crisis last September. In the first quarter -- till August-September -- of the last fiscal year the number of outbound labourers was encouraging but it slowed down in the second quarter and the demand dropped further in the third quarter.
However, Gulf countries -- especially Qatar and Saudi Arabia -- were in the top two positions on hiring Nepali blue-collar jobseekers in the last fiscal year. According to Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) data, Qatar and Saudi Arabia hired 57.52 per cent of the total Nepali migrant workers abroad.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia respectively hired 76,175 and 48,749 Nepalis last year. Other popular destinations are Malaysia that hired 35,070, the UAE that hired 31,688 and Bahrain that hired 6,360 Nepali blue-colour job seekers. The top five destination countries have covered 91.19 per cent of the 1,98,042 Nepali migrant workers.
Sensing the drop in the demand since September, the government has started exploring new labour destinations like Poland and Cuba. "The ministry has been trying to expand the Nepali labourers' market," Alam claimed. However, not a single Nepali blue-colour job-seeker has left for any new destination so far.

Industrial trainees in Japan
KATHMANDU: Six Nepali Industrial trainees have successfully completed the Japanese Language and Culture training at Toyoma, Japan. They were felicitated on their return to Nepal. They left for Japan on May 17. Toyoma City managing director Enada expressed his pleasure at the participation of Nepali trainees in the programme and hoped for better utilisation of the training. Meanwhile, Kumiaya Company also expressed a wish to accept Nepali trainees among the 1,500 trainees that they receive from across the world.