KATHMANDU, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The seventh Chinese language training course held by the Chinese Embassy in Nepal kicked off here on Friday for 60 tourism professionals in the country.

The professionals will learn the Chinese language, culture, geography and history during the six-month-long program, said Harish Chandra Shah, president of Nepal China Cultural and Educational Council, which is co-organizing the training session with the Nepal Tourism Board.

The past six sessions had trained a total of 240 tourism professionals for the South Asian country, Shah told the inaugural ceremony.

The training course is "a commendable initiative to support and promote our tourism sector," said Badri Prasad Pandey, Nepal's minister for culture, tourism and civil aviation. ■