President Pranab Mukherjee today called upon Industries to join the hands with the government to address the huge gap of demand and supply of skilled persons in the country. Inaugurating the 32nd India International Trade Fair at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, he said skill development and vocational training has to be brought to centre stage of development process. Hailing the economic growth in the country in last two decades, the President said India's model of self reliance has been a source of inspiration for many developing countries. Empahsizing the need for keeping pace with rapid global economic changes, the President highlighted constant fine tuning of skills of the workforce.

In the 14-day annual fair, Belarus is the partner country , while as South Africa has been chosen as the focus country. In the state category, Uttarakhand is the partner state and Andaman and Nicobar Islands the focus state.

The theme of this year's fair is Skilling India which focuses on the initaitives undertaken by various government departments and private participants for the skill development of the youth.