The Millennium Stadium opened its doors to Wales’ largest ever skills and careers event in Cardiff today (Thurs 16th September) signaling a new drive towards a higher-skilled economy.

Over the next three days, more than 20,000 young people and adults are expected to explore vocational training and job opportunities with over 100 exhibitors who include major employers, colleges and other learning providers.

Some of Wales’ leading business figures have helped launch the flagship event by joining Lesley Griffiths, Deputy Minister for Science Innovation and Skills, in trying out some of the 80 interactive skills opportunities on offer, including aero-engineering, paper manufacturing and high-level catering skills.

In her welcome speech, Ms Griffiths called on people of all ages to embrace new skills or enhance existing skills to improve their own prospects and help Wales recover from recession and secure future competitiveness and growth.

She announced two major new investments in skills development. These include a £28m investment to help nearly 8,000 firms to build management and leadership skills and £17.5m to enable 1,000 employers to boost the numeracy and literacy abilities of up to 30,000 low-skilled workers. Both of these initiatives are supported by the European Social Fund.

Ms Griffiths said, “We were determined to develop an event that would be much more than a careers fair and would be pivotal in raising awareness of the skills that employers need and want.

“Skills don’t only enable people to develop rewarding careers and make businesses more competitive: evidence also shows that skills lead to better lifestyles, improved health, stronger and safer communities and enriched cultural experiences.”