Business leaders in Norfolk and Suffolk are set to launch a new blueprint detailing moves to create 65,000 new jobs in the two counties by 2025.

Skills and employment minister Matthew Hancock will launch a skills manifesto drawn together by the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership at its conference on November 28.

More than 320 business leaders and education experts helped shaped the manifesto which follows two skills summits in Norfolk and Suffolk where employers have highlighted measures which could help improve any skills gaps from simplifying the apprenticeship and training process to forging stronger links between education and industry.

New Anglia said that growth, enterprise, jobs and skills would be at the heart of the initiative, which will help give businesses across Norfolk and Suffolk access to the best available skills as the economy grows and New Anglia continues to establish itself as a global business destination.

The manifesto will provide a strategy and action plan for giving young people the best possible career opportunities in business.

It will also focus on developing and adapting the skills of those already in work and on training and encouraging those currently out of work.

Andy Wood, New Anglia LEP chairman, said the manifesto will break new ground and set out a 'clear unified skills strategy' with an action plan and timetable for delivery.

'This manifesto will be for everyone who has a stake in the future success of our economy and in achieving the LEP's target of 65,000 new jobs in Norfolk and Suffolk by 2025,' he said.

'We have some of the world's leading companies based here, with many thousands more competing and winning in the UK and global marketplace.

'That's why a razor sharp focus on skills is absolutely essential for growth and for securing and creating jobs.'

The conference and skills exhibition will take place at Wherstead Park, Ipswich. To find out more go to www.newanglia.co.uk