Kenya has signed a five year agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to develop state-of-art data centers in the country which will be instrumental in expanding the country’s digital economy.
Speaking during the signing, Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication and the Digital Economy, Eliud Owalo lauded the partnership saying it will be a game changer as it will bridge the digital divide, accelerate technological innovation and pave way for a thriving digital economy benefiting both Africa and globally.
“This will pave way for significant ICT investments in Kenya’s data centre infrastructure as it will create job opportunities and empower citizens with the latest digital tools,” said Owalo.
The agreement is in line with the government’s Bottom-Up Transformation Agenda (BETA) that focuses on equipping the youth with digital skills for digitally-enabled jobs and digital entrepreneurship.
“A closer partnership between the two nations harbors remarkable opportunities in numerous fields that can contribute to the continued strengthening and advancement of our economies. Through targeted investments in digital infrastructure and Artificial Intelligence, this Investment Memorandum is set to accelerate the development of a sector that has the potential to become a growth driver for other industries, setting out a vision for the future defined by prosperity and progress,” stated UAE’s Minister of Investment Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi.
Additionally, the co-operation will focus on other fields like Artificial Intelligence and Large language Models.