President William Ruto has urged the Belt and Road Initiative to scale up investment in Africa's digital economy.
The President noted that such investments will help increase the contribution of the digital economy to Africa's GDP which currently stands at 4.5%.
The Head of State observed that investment in bandwidth infrastructure coupled with other infrastructure investments will propel Africa to the level of interconnectedness that guarantees meaningful transformation.
This, he said, will unlock Africa's digital economy's potential for inclusivity, democracy, and the empowerment of individuals and groups with global reach and limitless opportunity.
"For us of the BRI community, we must accept that the future of transformation is digital, and agree to build on the sound foundation of infrastructural connectivity to plug into this brave new world," he stated.
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He made the remarks on Wednesday during the High-Level 3rd Belt and Road Forum for Cooperation in Beijing, China.
The Head of State, however, challenged the forum to bring their investments to Africa through Kenya which he described as the ultimate gateway to Africa’s 1.4 billion people.
The President said the Government has prioritised the digital economy citing the establishment of Africa's Silicon Savannah, Kenya's 100,000 digital superhighway, Wi-Fi access at 25,000 centres and 1,450 ICT hubs countrywide among others.
"Kenya is the landing site for 6 undersea fibre-optic cables. It is also an advantageously located multinational, continental and regional logistical, humanitarian, commercial, trade and investment destination," he added.
At the same time, President Ruto told the forum to explore Africa's abundant green energy resources to drive the global transition to green industrialisation.
"Africa can become the world's clean, green, cheap global manufacturing hub if the right volume of investment is directed to our continent within a very short time," he said.
