diff --git a/awscli/customizations/configure/writer.py b/awscli/customizations/configure/writer.py
index 4aedabc43792..864f11b27b27 100644
--- a/awscli/customizations/configure/writer.py
+++ b/awscli/customizations/configure/writer.py
@@ -197,6 +197,10 @@ def _insert_new_values(self, line_number, contents, new_values, indent=''):
                     new_contents.append('%s%s = %s\n' % (subindent, subkey,
                                                          subval))
             else:
+                if value is None:
+                    continue
+                if isinstance(value, str) and not value.strip():
+                    continue
                 new_contents.append('%s%s = %s\n' % (indent, key, value))
             del new_values[key]
         contents.insert(line_number + 1, ''.join(new_contents))
diff --git a/tests/unit/customizations/configure/test_writer.py b/tests/unit/customizations/configure/test_writer.py
index 92fd0f477453..5b3599ea86d8 100644
--- a/tests/unit/customizations/configure/test_writer.py
+++ b/tests/unit/customizations/configure/test_writer.py
@@ -369,3 +369,13 @@ def test_appends_newline_on_new_section(self):
             '[new-section]\n'
             'region = us-west-2\n'
         )
+        def test_writer_skips_empty_values(self):
+        self.writer.update_config(
+            {'region': '', '__section__': 'default'},
+            self.config_filename
+        )
+        with open(self.config_filename, 'r') as f:
+            contents = f.read()
+        self.assertNotIn('region', contents)
+
+