KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 — A Nepali envoy to Malaysia has expressed satisfaction with Malaysia’s efforts to create a single foreign worker hiring system.

The Star reported Nepal’s Charge d’Affaires AI Kumar Raj Kharel as saying that the process can be expedited once Nepal signs a proposed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysia on hiring Nepalese workers.

“We are satisfied with the progress we have made so far through various discussions between our side and Malaysia, and we hope the matter can be resolved soon,” he said in an interview.

Malaysia aims to create a single system to hire foreign workers regardless of the source country.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said previously only 10 agents were allowed to process Bangladeshi workers’ applications.

This resulted in a monopoly where some agents charged as high as RM20,000 per worker.

Dr Mahathir said he hoped opening up the process to all agents would allow competition.