Sabah's success factor is that we have a lot to offer but we don't realise it." This was what was said by the Netherlands Ambassador to Malaysia, Lody Embrechts. "It's amazing what Malaysia has to offer in terms of investment opportunities to the foreign investors."

You have to be outside the circle to see the circle. His Excellency was at the Sabah International Expo (SIE) 2008 at 1Borneo, here.
He said Sabah has a strategic location, good airports, good infrastructure and natural resources, among others.

"It is also because your Chief Minister (Datuk Seri Musa Aman) is a very business-minded leaderÉhis corporate background does make a difference," he said, adding Musa knows how to run the Government and to line up opportunities.

He said Musa knows which sectors to focus on and where to put the money, where to put the policies and "whenever we knock on his door when we need an advice or guidance, we get the guidance and support."

"Trust me, if not because of these good traits, ports like Port of Rotterdam which is the Number One port would never take that kind of steps (having an MoU with POIC Lahad Datu Port). They (Port of Rotterdam) feel secure that the political leadership very much supports the economic development in Sabah," he said.

Embrechts said some of the 120 Netherlands companies are presently actively involved in Sabah, citing Shell (Royal Dutch Shell), ING and Port of Rotterdam, to name a few.

"We see growth in tourism, particularly eco-tourism, in Sabah. We have a plantation industry. We are setting up a maritime training institute in Sabah as well, which is also port-related but kind of a spin-off if you like where we believe we can add some value," he said. Of course, the energy sector for us remains the important thing about Shell, he added, Sabah is extremely important in that context as well.

"In the environment, we have ING investing in a forestry rehabilitation project. We are setting up a carbon credit trading company as well which we did quite well in Sabah," he said.

"Shell is by far the largest investor, together with Petronas. But if you are looking at port project like the POIC Lahad Datu, you would be talking about a very substantial amount of money," he said, adding that the POIC Lahad Datu is a perfect export hub for palm oil as well as for processing palm oil.

"We very much believe in its potential."