A snapshot from footage of a DJI drone flying over the Khumbu Glacier during a delivery test to Mount Qomolangma from the Nepalese side on April 30, 2024. (Xinhua)
KATHMANDU, June 12 (Xinhua) — The sixth Chinese language training course for Nepalese tourism industry players began on Tuesday.
A total of 60 Nepalis will receive Chinese language training during the six-month programme, said Harish Chandra Shah, chairman of the Nepal-Chinese Cultural and Educational Council, which is organising the training session in collaboration with the Nepal Tourism Board.
A total of 200 Nepali tourism professionals have been trained in the past five training sessions.
Nepal’s Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Hit Bahadur Tamang said China was not only a “strong partner” for Nepal’s development but also “a market for our tourism industry.”
“My ministry aims to attract millions of tourists from China to Nepal,” he said at the inauguration of the training course. “We need thousands of Chinese-speaking guides to serve them.”
“Similarly, learning the language of either country will also help in expanding people-to-people ties between the two countries,” the minister added.
Nepal Tourism Board interim CEO Hikmat Singh Iyer said the board is open to expanding the partnership and extending the training courses to other parts of the country.
Chinese language is not just a language, but also a tool that holds the key to ancient civilizations and cultures, as well as the direction of future technological development, said Chen Song, China’s ambassador to Nepal.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Chen spoke of the progress China has made in technological development, including the highest number of high-quality papers and patents published and filed each year.
“China is number one in every new scientific and technological field, and in some fields number two,” he added.
Chen encouraged the trainees to enjoy the learning process so that they can open up a better world.
