President Uhuru Kenyatta has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to fostering an investment-friendly environment and noted that significant progress has already been made in transforming the nation into one of East and Central Africa’s most dynamic and prosperous economies.
The President emphasised that the country’s status as a global centre for financial services has improved as a result of the Government’s focus on important reforms across the business and financial services spectrum.
“In pursuit of this goal, I can confidently say that we have not only tried, but have succeeded in cementing Nairobi’s pride and place in our journey towards being the international financial services hub envisioned in our Vision 2030,” President Kenyatta said.
The Head of Public Service, Dr. Joseph Kinyua, spoke on the President’s behalf in a speech given on Monday at the official opening of the Nairobi International Financial Centre.
President Kenyatta expressed satisfaction that the Nairobi International Financial Centre has been created as an effective and predictable business environment to increase the trust of the significant global capital pools that have been observing Kenya’s progress but have not yet decided to invest.
“We know investors have options and we want them to actively choose Kenya. The Centre has and will continue to play a significant role in promoting the initiatives outlined above to target investors,” President Kenyatta said.
The Head of State emphasized that through the International Financial Centre, the Government will create an ecosystem that supports the financial structuring of business in the country.
The President cited the full automation of business-registration services, automation of the land registration processes, adoption of e-payment and e-filling services in the High Court as some of the reforms that have helped to create a conducive environment for businesses to thrive.
“We have similarly automated and streamlined the payment of taxes and redesigned the import and export processes, in order to reduce costs and improve efficiency of our ports,” the President said.
According to President Kenyatta, the creation of Kenya’s green bond framework has already given the nation’s ecosystem of green economy institutions and business innovators momentum.
The President pointed out that the center’s emphasis on luring green financing serves as a strategic enabler of the nation’s broader green economy strategy, including the development of the nation’s capacity for green manufacturing by linking energy-intensive manufacturers to less expensive, renewable sources of energy.
He continued by saying that the National Treasury is collaborating closely with important parties to expand the domestic debt markets, raise prices, and boost productivity in order to lower the cost of capital for the creation of green projects.
“These, among other attractions, provided good reason for Google to open its first African Product Development Centre in Nairobi earlier this year. Microsoft has already opened a U$D 27 million technology hub in Nairobi.
“In November last year, the President of the European Investment Bank was in the country to officially open the Bank’s regional hub that will cover eleven countries in Eastern and Central Africa. VISA also opened its first African Innovation Studio in Nairobi,” President Kenyatta said.
He tasked the centre with accelerating the creation of an investment environment that is conducive to economic growth in order to attract investment that would not have been made otherwise.