Visakhapatnam, Feb 25 (IANS): Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu on Sunday laid the foundation stone here for the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) and the Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP) which will come up Andhra Pradesh's Kakinada town.

The state-of-the-art campuses will be built on 25 acres of land each alloted by the state government in GMR Special Economic Zone.

Besides Prabhu, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and top officials of the two institutes were present at the CII Partnership Summit here on Sunday.

The proposal for setting up IIFT in Visakhapatnam was mooted by then Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh N. Kiran Kumar Reddy in 2013. Subsequently in 2015, Chandrababu Naidu sent a request to the central government to set up the institutes in October 2015.

The IIP campus is expected to come up in three to five years. It will focus on export marketing and training.

Mumbai-headquartered IIP has branches in major cities. It is also adding centres in Bengaluru, Guwahati and Ahmedabad.