Online retail giant Amazon has announced it will expand its Vancouver technology hub and create 3,000 new high-tech jobs.

Amazon鈥檚 general manager of web services Jesse Dougherty said the new corporate positions will be focused on e-commerce technology, cloud computing and machine learning. The employees will be working in a new 38,000 square metre office tower the company plants to build on the site of the city鈥檚 old post office.

The structure鈥檚 architectural heritage will be preserved, and the tower is expected to open in 2022, Dougherty said Monday outside the former Canada Post building.

鈥淲e chose to build and grow in Canada because we recognize the diverse and exceptionally talented workforce here,鈥� he said.

鈥淎s a homegrown British Columbian and a software engineer, I am so proud of living and working in a city that is recognized worldwide as a first-rate global tech hub.鈥�

Amazon opened its first software development site in Vancouver in 2011 and now has more than 1,000 employees.

Dougherty said the company will build on its relationships with top Canadian universities, which he said are producing some of the best computer engineering students in the world.

鈥淲e鈥檝e hired many graduates from schools right here in British Columbia,鈥� he said, citing the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University as well as the universities of Toronto, Waterloo, and McGill.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended the announcement and said innovation will help drive economic growth and improve the lives of middle-class Canadians.

The company is expected to announce its second North American headquarters, dubbed HQ2, sometime this year, with Toronto as the only Canadian city on the list of 20 finalists.

The Canadian Press