Noida, Jan 31 (IANS): Union Culture and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma Saturday laid the foundation stone of campus buildings of the National Museum Institute (NMI) and Indian Culinary Institute (ICI), both aimed to find new avenues of employment for the youth.

While NMI comes under the culture ministry, ICI is a part of tourism ministry.

"Both these projects were languishing for more than a decade but the hard work of both the ministries has made it possible to start the process of construction within a short time," Sharma said.

"These institutes will help train the youth to find new avenues of employment within the country as well as abroad. They will also go a long way in promoting the culture and culinary art of India,"he added.

According to Sharma, this was the opportune time to initiate the process of building these institutions because the tourism sector is expected to witness "exponential growth".

"This sector would require matching trained manpower to manage the infrastructure and services which these two institutes seek to do," he said.

Sharma also disclosed that it will be possible to start the first session of ICI by 2017 and the institute will also have collaboration with its foreign counterparts.