About NRN UK 1. It is estimated that today more than 1.2 million Nepalese reside abroad (in 34 countries outside the SAARC region). Nepalese expatriates come from all walks-of-life: academics, businessmen, doctors, scientists, professionals and unskilled labourers. The exodus of Nepalese is on the rise due to (i) the sheer lack of gainful employment at home, (ii) the grave security problems facing the populace at home, and (iii) the incredible political turmoil the country is engulfed in. There is a clear pattern among the Nepalese emigrants. Semi-skilled and unskilled Nepalese mostly emigrate to the oil rich Gulf States and they mainly engage in manual work whereas a relatively small number of highly trained work force enter the Western European countries, North America and Australia. 2. The exodus of both trained and untrained manpower from the country coupled with the Maoists insurgents’ control over the vast stretches of rural Nepal (it is often reported that insurgents control more than 70% of the country), the Nepalese public finances (government finances) are increasingly dependent on the remittances from abroad. 3. The growing number of Nepalese expatriates abroad and the increasing importance of their remittances as a source of government revenue at home brought the concept of NRN (the Non-resident Nepali Association) to its fore. This culminated by the establishment of the “Non-Resident Nepali Association International Co-ordination Council (NRN-ICC)” in October 2003. Although, the notion of harmonizing the expatriates of a country under a common umbrella such as the Association of Non-Residents is not a new one (for example, NRI has been around for decades now), the establishment of NRN-ICC was the beginning of the NRN movements amongst the Nepalese expatriates. 4. Following the establishment of NRN-ICC, in Kathmandu in 2003, Nepalese residing in different countries across the globe have constituted their respective NRN national co-ordination council (NRN-NCC) in progression. The NRN-NCCs have been constituted in countries like USA, Germany and a number of Gulf States. 5. The NRN-NCC UK was established on 6 March 2005. Non-resident Nepalese from different walks-of-life living in the UK, the Royal Nepalese Ambassador HE Mr Prabal SJB Rana, and the advisor and representatives of NRN-ICCI were present at the inception NRN-NCC UK 6. NRN-NCC automatically qualifies for the membership of the NRN-ICC. However, each NRN-NCC has to address two types of issues: (i) issues that are local to the country of residence and appear more relevant to the NRN residing in that country, and (ii) issues that are global in nature that affect the rights and well-being of NRN globally. As an example of local issue, reforms of labour laws may be extremely pertinent for the NRN in the Gulf States than those residing in the Western Europe or the USA. On the other hand, issues of dual nationality and the provisions for NRN investments in Nepal are examples of global issues. Thus, while it is very important to have a cohesive NRN-ICCI, each NRN-NCCN must be fully autonomous.