President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on Friday met with the Federal Councillor of Economic Affairs, Education and Research of Switzerland, Johann N. Schneider-Ammann, to discuss cooperation between the two countries, particularly in developing vocational education in Indonesia.

The meeting mostly encompassed vocational training and how Switzerland, as one of the world's model countries for vocational education, could help Indonesia improve its existing system, said Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution.

"[The Federal Councillor] did offer stronger cooperation in that field and the President was very enthusiastic about it," he said following the meeting at the Bogor Presidential Palace in West Java.

Darmin said he would immediately follow up the results of the meeting so that both countries could pursue more detailed cooperation in the vocational sector, which could be signed during President Jokowi's visit to Switzerland in December.

Jokowi’s government has placed great emphasis on improving the country's vocational education system and has mainly focused on creating more a skillful workforce for the maritime, tourism, agriculture and creative industries.

Data from the Central Statistics Agency shows that the number of jobless vocational school graduates has increased over the last three years as they contributed to 9.84 percent of the country’s unemployment rate in February, compared to 9.05 percent and 7.21 percent recorded during the same period in 2015 and 2014, respectively. (bbn)