Kathmandu, June 20: Newly appointed Nepalese ambassador to Qatar Shyamananda Suman said today that he was looking forward to mobilise the Nepalese mission in Qatar to promote tourism and bilateral trade with the affluent gulf nation.
Qatar which has a per capital income of approximately US $ seventeen thousand offers Nepal with unlimited prospects for tourism, trade and employment, he said.
Suman said that the Nepalese working there were not getting the minimum wages as majority of them had gone there on their own through private manpower companies.
“My mission will be to initiate talks with the authorities there to fix minimum wages for the Nepalese workers and establish a mechanism at the government level to expand the job prospects for the Nepalese,” Suman said.
He said that there was a bright prospect for Nepalese workers in Qatar as the job market there was opening up for fresh opportunities.
He said that he would initiate steps to sign agreements at the official level so that qualified Nepalese from varied disciplines could go there to take up jobs. Presently the Nepalese have been taking up low profile jobs in the Gulf nation.
Though official figures show that the number of Nepalese workers in Qatar is around fifteen thousand, there are nearly fourty thousand Nepalese workers in Qatar.
He said that the Nepalese were also facing problems at the time of sending their earnings home. Most of them have been sending their savings to their families through Hundi.
Often, there are complaints that the family members of the Nepalese workers never get the money on time and at times they get money in installments, he said.
“I am meeting the Governor of Rastra Bank today and I am requesting him to develop a mechanism through which the Nepalese workers can send their savings to their family members in a reliable manner,” Suman said.
Suman who will also be responsible for fostering ties with Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Oman is optimistic that Nepal’s tourism could benefit a lot if the tourists from these countries were tapped.
People from Qatar and other Gulf nations have been going to tourist destinations in Europe and other parts of the world.
“If we can publicise our tourist destinations then we can attract a lot of tourists from the Gulf countries,” Suman said.
He said that there existed bright prospects for promoting trade primarily in agricultural products and forest products with Qatar and other Gulf nations.
Suman said that he would focus on promoting tourism through an integrated package.
“I will also focus on creating a congenial atmosphere for attracting foreign investments from the Gulf nations,” he said.
He said that the private sector in Nepal was profoundly interested in tapping the tourism and trade prospects in the Gulf countries.
Since the Qatar Airways has been flying to Nepal twelve times a week, a little bit of leg work to publicise Nepal’s tourist destinations could help to promote tourism, he said.
The Nepal government does not have its land and building for the newly opened embassy in Qatar. Suman said that he would work towards acquiring building and land and the required logistics to take his mission ahead.
“After the building is acquired, I look forward to inaugurate it formally by inviting Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Bastola,” he said.
He said that the next step would be to organise high level visits between the two nations in order to explore the possible avenues for bilateral cooperation.
Suman said that an agreement on investment to be signed with the government of Qatar was being worked out. Similarly, an agreement on labour has also reached the final stage, he said. Apart from this, HMG has also been pursuing an agreement on economic cooperation, commerce and technical cooperation with the Qatar government, he added.
The proposed agreement has been exchanged and HMG has been waiting for approval, Suman said.
Suman has been working as Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has taken up key positions at Nepalese foreign missions in countries like France and Pakistan.
He has been decorated with the Suprasiddha Gorkha Dakshin Bahu and Prabal Gorkha Dakshin Bahu.