AMSTERDAM (THE NETHERLANDS), May 26 (Bernama) -- Two Dutch companies, Royal Dutch Shell and Exact Asia, were presented with an Award of Recognition by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) for their contribution to the growth and development of MSC Malaysia.

The award was presented by Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Johnity Ongkili at the Malaysian Pavillion, in conjunction with the World Congress in Information Technology (WCIT).

In his address, he said both companies had invested significantly in their operations in MSC Malaysia and are poised to enhance their presence there further.

Maximus was leading a 20-member Malaysian delegation to the WCIT which was opened today by Maria van doer Hoeven, the Economic Affairs Minister of the Netherlands.

He said there were 161 MSC Status companies from Europe which contributed total revenue of RM4.711 billion in 2009 and spurred 100,000 skilled jobs.

Thirty three of these companies are from the Netherlands, of which 24 are active and contributing 38 per cent or RM1.808 billion of the European revenue.

Maximus also urged European technology companies to take advantage of the investment potential to be brought about by the New Economic Model (NEM), aimed at creating an innovation-led high income economy within the decade.

"Under the NEM, innovation will be systematically fostered as a key driver of value-add and higher value-add sources of growth to be promoted extensively.

"Among these are the ICT sector, creative industries and biotechnology," the Minister added.

Meanwhile, a separate event also took place at the Malaysian Pavillion today, with MDeC signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Information Service Industry Association of Taiwan (CISA) for collaboration in market access.