India must prepare its workforce to meet global needs in emerging sectors influenced by artificial intelligence and automation and orthodox fields such as healthcare, and authorities should work with industry to anticipate future requirements, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday.

Jaishankar made the remarks at the launch of the Human Resource Mobility Forum, a two-day event aimed at highlighting legal pathways for migration and facilitating networking between foreign employers and Indians seeking jobs abroad. Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia are the focus countries for the event.

Advances in AI and automation are set to transform labour markets, leading to significant changes in some occupations and the emergence of entirely new categories of jobs, while the green economy will create demands for new skills, Jaishankar said. Demands in orthodox fields will continue, with healthcare and care-giving services becoming important in nations with ageing populations.

“These developments require governments, industry, educational institutions and international organisations to work together much more closely than they have ever done before. We must develop mechanisms that anticipate future workforce requirements,” he said.