KENT and Medway’s burgeoning reputation as a good place for business is underlined by figures showing that more than 2,000 jobs were created in the past year.

They suggest that more firms are recognising the advantages of Kent and Medway.

Regeneration in east Kent, transformation of the Thames Gateway and Ashford, imminent improvements in the rail network, even the Olympics in 2012, are giving the county momentum as as an inward investment destination.

The efforts of Locate in Kent (LiK), the agency that promotes the county to firms at home and abroad, brought 2,113 jobs to the county in the past 12 months.

This is well on the way to its three-year target of between 5,000 and 7,000 new jobs. A year ago, LiK’s annual target was around 1,300.

LiK has also secured 1,500 jobs that might otherwise have left the county. LiK has also beaten its completed projects target of 53.

The agency, based in Kings Hill, West Malling has 240 possibles in the pipeline, 50 more than a year ago.

Sectors mostly involved are business services, ICT, transport and logistics, and manufacturing.

A major achievement was attracting a major Sainsbury’s distribution centre to The Bridge development at Dartford, creating at least 600 jobs.

"We are significantly up on all our activity," said Paul Wookey, LiK chief executive. "Our business case is getting much stronger."

He puts this down to a growing awareness of Kent and Medway, a "still fairly stable" economy, a "fairly supportive" tax regime and flexible labour laws.

Most interest is coming from the UK, with only a handful from mainland Europe and beyond. Mr Wookey is concerned about waning interest from the Asia-Pacific region.

"While we are quite successful in building our share of the domestic market, arguably our share of the overseas market is beginning to decline," he said.

"It’s down to us to make sure that those who represent Kent interest in the overseas market are properly briefed and make sure we gain a larger share of the action."

In the past 12 months, a steady stream of visitors have looked at Kent and Medway as possible places to grow their business. Some, like Eisai, a Japanese hi-tech science company, eventually decided not to come here.

But Kent was close to landing the deal and only lost out because the firm already had connections with Hatfield in Hertfordshire.

Mr Wookey said the fact that Kent came so close to landing a science business only enhanced the county’s reputation and he was optimistic that Kent would ultimately benefit from a "near miss".

LiK employs 14 people and has a £1.3million budget funded by the major contributor Kent County Council, district councils, developers and other commercial partners.