The present invention discloses a promoter sequence of light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding protein pGWLS01 isolated from the oil palm leaf. This promoter enables the manipulation of oil palm leaves for the production of high value-added products via genetic engineering tools. The novel features of the promoter itself which regulate high and specific expression of foreign genes in the leaves will avoid the interference of novel products in the commodity oil extracted from mesocarp and kernel tissues. Furthermore, the promoter is also potentially useful in the production of insect-resistant palm.