Bhubaneswar, April 16 : Union Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday launched India’s first Skill India International Centre at SDI Bhubaneshwar. Pradhan also launched World Skills Academy and National Academy for Skill Teachers at the institute and witnessed MoU signing between NSDC International with the Odisha government and overseas employers. The launch of Skill India International Centre, World Skills Academy and National Academy for Skill Teachers at SDI Bhubaneswar and the signing of MoU between NSDC and international employers are big strides towards transforming India into the skill capital of the world,” Pradhan said. These initiatives launched will not just open up overseas job opportunities for the youth, but will create a world-class workforce, the Union Minister said. Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan said there are approximately 25 crore youngsters in India and 75 lakh of them in Odisha between the age group of 15-25 years. “We will leave no one behind and ensure skill, knowledge and employability linkages for all to achieve fast-paced development of Odisha and India,” he said. Talking about the role of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the Union Minister said the NEP 2020 is a guiding philosophy to convert aspirations into reality. “In the next decade we must collectively scale up our efforts to integrate knowledge, skill and employment with flexible entry-exits to make our youth future-ready,”he said While advising SDI Bhubaneswar to strive to create opportunities for skilling with focus on quality, Pradhan urged other major institutes attending the event including AIIMS Bhubaneswar, IIT Bhubaneswar, ICT-IOCL BBSR, CIPET-IPT, IISER, Utkal University and all other universities to come forward, collaborate to boost skilling and reduce the employability gaps. He also called upon the stakeholders in Odisha to fulfil their responsibilities and create a model and a benchmark ecosystem for quality skill development. Among the multiple MoUs signed on Saturday an agreement was exchanged between Ved Mani Tiwari, Director, NSDC International (NSDCI) and Sanjay Srivastava, CEO, SDI Bhubaneswar, in presence of the Union Minister, OSDA Chairman Subroto Bagchi, and, Chairman, SDI, Bhubaneswar Ranjan Kumar Mohapatra, and the Director (HR), IOCL. Under this collaboration, Skill India International Centre will be set up for high-quality training of Indian youth, especially the aspirants from Odisha aiming to work overseas. The centre will host training facilities to provide skills as per the demand of international employers in countries like UAE, Canada, Australia and other GCC regions. The Skill India International Centre will also have a wide network of partnering organisations and overseas recruiters to facilitate supply of skilled and certified workforce in other countries.(UNI)