'Link social welfare with market economy'

Lalitpur, Dec. 13: Norwegian ambassador to Nepal Kjell Tormod Pettersen Tuesday stressed linking the social welfare system with the market economy to for the social and economic development of society.

Speaking at a seminar on ‘Business management’ here, he urged the government and private sector to build trust between them through dialogue and collaboration.

“Trust between the government, employer and employee is missing in Nepal,” he said.

He suggested that Nepal should exploit its potential with private sector investment.

He said that both Nepal and Norway were endowed with natural resources but the former was unable to tap the potential and take the benefit from it.

Senior vice president, International Hydropower of Statkraft and chairman of Himal Power Limited Tima Iyer Utne recommended the companies in Nepal to adopt ‘inspire-develop-deliver’ formula.

“Create qualitative work environment, set realistic goals, listen to the issues of employees and create passion for work. Keep reinventing continuously and deliver quality goods and services,” she suggested.

Saying that the Norwegian companies adopted informal approach in office and business dealings, she said that corporate management success would come through distribution of power, gender inclusion, team work and consensus management.

Secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs at GEFONT Ramesh Badal said that communication gap between the employers/management and employees was creating problems.

“There should be trust, respect, equality among workers and participatory approach should be adopted while taking decisions in every company,” he said.

According to Badal, the low productivity of Nepalese labourer was due to fault in management.

He claimed that 64 per cent of the industrial strikes were called by the political parties or ethnic groups, about 30 per cent by employers’ association and only 6 per cent of the total strikes were called by the workers.

“There should be a ‘Labour Commission’ to look after the labour issues and address the problems,” he said.

Chaudhary Group’s infrastructure head Barsha Shrestha called for greater transparency in the part of the management.

“Better communication and care for staff will solve many problems,” she said.