RIYADH: The Nepalese ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Udayaraj Pandey, thanked the Kingdom on Thursday as he ends his four-year tour of duty in Saudi Arabia.

Earlier in the day, he called on Riyadh Gov. Prince Faisal bin Bandar to pay him a courtesy call and to bid farewell. He is due to leave the Kingdom on Aug. 9.

“The Saudi leadership has been very cooperative with Nepal in relation to our half a million workers in Saudi Arabia,” he told Arab News. He said that during his stint in the Kingdom he witnessed significant developments between the two countries, with one of these being the establishment of a Saudi Embassy in Nepal.

He said that Nepalese workers no longer go to Bangladesh for their visas and related documents needed in coming to Saudi Arabia to work.

“When I arrived in the Kingdom and presented my credentials to Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Prince Abdullah bin Abdullah in 2011, I proposed the establishment of a Saudi Embassy in Nepal,” he said.

He added that a Nepalese embassy was also established in Jeddah while he was the country’s representative in Saudi Arabia.

“This has definitely helped in further strengthening the bilateral ties binding Nepal and Saudi Arabia,” the Nepalese envoy said.

He added that “we were also able to fix the minimum salary for Nepalese workers in the Kingdom to SR800 plus a SR200 food allowance.”

He added that the embassy also helped 35,000 illegal Nepalese workers correct their status during the correction period in 2013 as the Kingdom cracked down on illegal residents.

Pandey added that Nepal also received aid from the Kingdom in the wake of the earthquake in April and May this year. The Kingdom sent donations totaling 190 tons of aid.

He said that the aid included high-quality tents which “the earthquake victims could use during the rainy season, and the Kingdom promised to send 1,200 more tents to meet the needs of displaced people.”

“The Kingdom has been very good to us, which I’ll always look back to. I’ll also miss the people — Saudis and expats alike — whom I have struck up friendships with,” the Nepalese diplomat said.