Investing in the digital sector will enhance the country's economic growth, President William Ruto has said.
He was speaking on Wednesday during the launch of the Amazon Website Services development centre.
Ruto said the establishment of the Centre in Nairobi will create job opportunities and enhance skills development.
"We agreed on sustaining the development of a conducive business environment for them to expand their investment in Kenya. The centre will make Kenya the second African hub from which its teams will be developing solutions for partners," he said.
The launch comes just a fortnight after the President met AWS Executives in New York.
Present were Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, US Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman, Amazon Web Services Support Satheesh and public sector sub-Sahara Robin Njiru,
Ruto said Amazon's choice of Kenya as its base to extend its global and African footprint was an endorsement of the country's competitiveness in the digital sector.
"Kenya has emerged as one of the most exciting frontiers of global tech competitiveness, with high revolutionary potential across all Amazon," he said.
Ruto said efforts to strengthen education in the country are meant to enhance Kenya's human capital.
"We will continue investing in education so that companies like Amazon can come to invest in Kenya," he said.
Whitman pointed out that the launch of the AWS development centre is an endorsement of Kenya's business environment.
"AWS is one of the most important tech companies in the world, the fact that they have decided to set up a development centre in Kenya speaks volumes about this country and this administration," she said.
Sakaja on his side said the AWS development centre will create numerous opportunities for talented youth in the country.
"As a country, our cash crop is our talented and resilient youth," he said.
Njiru lauded the government's decision to abolish the policy that required foreign-owned firms to sell at least 30 per cent of their stakes to local investors.
He noted the Government is committed to making the digital economy a priority citing the digitisation of 5,000 government services and the development of support infrastructure.
