Chandigarh: The international conference being organized by International Punjabi Chamber for Service Industry (IPCSI) here on January 12 would focus on exploring opportunities in skills development, vocational education and employment generation for youth in domestic and overseas job markets. This was stated by AR Kohli, patron, IPCSI and former governor, Mizoram. Interacting with mediapersons here on Sunday, he said the conference, being held in conjunction with 6th Annual Parvasi Divas 2008, will be inaugurated by Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal. Kohli said Punjab brought green revolution, white revolution and made unprecedented progress in developing small-scale industries. Time has come now for Punjab to usher in a new revolution in economic growth by developing skills including soft skills and enhance the overall personality of its youth to international standards. Although India has been making impressive strides in developing its economy, nearly 500 million of its citizens were not literate, he said. It is estimated that more than 300 million are unemployed, while about 45 million unemployed are registered with employment exchanges. Kohli was of the view that the Indian corporates should also take concrete steps to provide on-thejob technical training and financial incentives to improve the skills and ability of the country's manpower. However, what is needed today is to evolve a mechanism for constant interaction between industry, academia and government, he said. Equally important was the educational infrastructure. Indian diaspora can play a major role in building educational infrastructure and in setting up schools, colleges and even universities, the IPCSI patron said. The chief secretary, Punjab will chair the first technical session on January 12 while deputy speaker of Lok Sabha and member of Parliament from Amritsar will attend the afternoon session. In the evening, Haryana chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda would be the chief guest at the interface on "Haryana - An Investment Destination" between with tourism minister Kiran Choudhary and prospective investors and others. Kohli said that many NRI investors and entrepreneurs, domestic corporates, ministers, embassies, high commissions, government officials, educationists, HR developers and some international agencies were expected to participate in the conference