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resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo took several hours off on Friday from the ASEAN anniversary celebration to accept courtesy calls from high-ranking Singaporean and Malaysian officials.

Together at the State Palace, Jokowi and Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean discussed investment, infrastructure and the digital economy as a way to improve cooperation between the two countries.

The visit was part of the celebration of the 50-year-old bilateral relationship enjoyed by Indonesia and its closest neighbor and the 52nd anniversary of Singapore’s independence.

Foreign deputy minister AM Fachir said the leaders discussed the progress that Indonesia and Singapore made after the Annual Leader’s Meeting held by the two countries in November in Kendal regency, Central Java.

Fachir said there were now about 30 Singaporean companies in Semarang that provide jobs for about 1,700 locals.

“There are another 41 companies that will follow suit and that will attract about 4,000 workers. We will establish vocational campuses in order to produce workers who will work for the companies,” Fachir said.

Singapore is the biggest investor in Indonesia with investments worth US$9.2 billion in 2016.

Fachir said that Teo told Jokowi that Singapore was interested in investing in the Batam and Bintan islands, Riau Islands province, as well as in Karimun Jawa in Central Java.

On the same day, Jokowi also received Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Haji Aman at the State Palace to discuss the protection of Indonesian workers in Malaysia.

“The President said that workers protection is a priority of the Indonesian government. If there is problem about it then we should directly talk and solve it,” Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi after accompanying Jokowi during his meeting with Anifah.

Retno said Indonesia appreciated a program implemented by Malaysia to allow undocumented workers from Indonesia a chance to work again in Malaysia by granting them amnesty. However, some problems remain because workers have to pay a lot of money to join the program.

“If it is too costly then our migrant workers tend not to use it. This could slow down our efforts to solve problems related to undocumented workers,” Retno said.

Retno said the Indonesian government had also stepped up efforts to give equal rights to Indonesian workers to receive education and training in Malaysia by building community learning centers (CLC) in areas where Indonesians work.

“We have built many CLCs. In total we have 255, of which 151 are in Kinabalu, 83 in Tawau and 21 in Kuching,” Retno said.

Jokowi and Retno also discussed with Anifah possible solutions to issues related to the border between the two countries, especially the nine disputed places in Kalimantan.

Earlier in the morning, Retno met Anifah at the Foreign Ministry in Pejambon to discuss various border disputes both in the land and sea sectors, which have existed since 1979, with Retno saying Indonesia wants to solve the issues as soon as possible.

“Since the last JCBC [Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation meeting] in 2015 […] both sides have agreed to a provisional territorial sea boundary [PTSB] in the Celebes Sea and Indonesia had asked Malaysia to officially announce the PTSB soon because it can give impetus for the settlement of the next negotiations,” said Retno.

Retno also emphasized the need to settle the border in Kalimantan.

“We also agreed on the land delimitation to finish five outstanding border problems in North Kalimantan and Sabah and four outstanding border problems in West Kalimantan and Sarawak.”

Intern Rizky Kurniadi contributed to this story.