Kathmandu. Prime Minister Sushila Karki has said that policy-level initiatives were necessary to make foreign employment safe and free of cost.

Addressing a programme organized on the occasion of the 18th establishment day of the Foreign Employment Board here today, he said it was imperative to make foreign employment transparent and respectable. He also directed the Board to move ahead to ensure social security and dignified integration of migrant returnees in their families.

Prime Minister Karki, who is also the Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security and Chairman of the Board of Labour, stressed the need of equipping those aspiring for foreign employment with skills to make them skilled. According to him, the government has adopted a policy of encouraging capital, skills, technology and experience gained from foreign employment to invest in productive sectors in the country.

“The call centre and telemedicine service launched by the Board to address the problems arising in foreign employment are useful for the welfare of the workers,” she said, adding that the Board’s steps to increase the access of the service seekers by providing all welfare services fully online are commendable. ’

PM Karki said that the government should now give priority to creating decent employment opportunities in the country as an alternative to foreign employment, expanding skill-based enterprises and reintegration programs. He directed the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security to prepare an action plan for the same and carry out works accordingly.