The Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA) has been set up for the specific purpose of helping and advising foreign companies who wish to take advantage of the Dutch business environment as a strategic base to cover Europe. It provides information and practical assistance free of charge and on a confidential basis. The NFIA is an operational unit of the EVD, the agency for international business and cooperation, which in turn is part of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The NFIA has offices in Europe (HQ in The Hague, London), the US (New York, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, San Mateo), Asia (Tokyo, Osaka, Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Seoul, New Delhi, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur) and in the Gulf Region (Dubai).

Many large international companies have utilized the NFIA's services to choose the Netherlands for their initial investment or expansion. These include US companies such as GE Plastics, Dow Chemical, which runs its largest production site outside the US in the Netherlands, NCR Corp., Starbucks, Medtronic, Eastman Chemical, Boeing, Abbott Laboratories and Cisco Systems, which has its European HQ, and all its shared services and distribution activities in the country.

They also include European companies such as EMI, BOC Group, Bosch and Wuppermann. Moreover, a large number of Asian companies are in the Netherlands, such as Teijin, Hitachi, Yakult, Giant, BenQ, Samsung, Daewoo, LG Electronics, Huawei, Canon and Sony Corporation, which has its European distribution center in the Netherlands.