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ingaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo held their first leaders retreat when Lee visited Semarang on Nov. 13 to 14.

In an otherwise mundane bilateral diplomatic meeting normally conducted between leaders of countries, what was it that made Lee’s Indonesia visit particularly significant?

This visit had a clear purpose of accelerating economic collaboration between Indonesia and Singapore. Not only was this investment trend taken up a notch during Lee’s trip, including the establishment of an Indonesia-Singapore business council to boost cooperation, but greater emphasis was also placed on diversifying Singapore’s traditional investment destinations of Jakarta and Batam.

As such, Semarang has been earmarked for the construction of the 2,700-hectare Kendal Industrial Park, a joint venture between Singapore’s Sembcorp Development and Indonesia’s PT Jababeka.

This industrial park is significant in five ways. First, it is possibly the most notable commercial collaboration between Singapore and Indonesia in recent history, alongside the Batam, Bintan and Karimun Free Trade Zone.

Second, this project is mutually-beneficial for both countries whereby Singapore benefits from diversifying its investment destinations in Indonesia, while Indonesia benefits from job creation for its people.

Third, this joint venture testifies to the close economic interconnectedness between Singapore and Indonesia. Fourth, this project is congruent with Jokowi’s penchant for economic diplomacy in his foreign policy, the cornerstone of which is to attract investment for infrastructure development.

Fifth, the Kendal project could help hasten efforts of Jokowi’s government to improve the business climate for foreign investors by slashing red tape and abolishing unnecessary regulations. These have long been an impediment to the ease of doing business in, and trade with Indonesia.

In this trip, Lee spoke candidly about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) being essentially dead as it is unlikely to be passed and ratified under a Donald Trump presidency. In Lee’s words, Trump “had no sympathy for the TPP at all and I think that’s a disappointment to all of us who worked so hard to negotiate the TPP”.

Lee’s words were truly significant in expressing, to some degree, the frustration of TPP’s 11 signatories (excluding America) that all the hard work in negotiating this mega trade deal was all for naught. Although Indonesia is not yet a signatory to the TPP, Jokowi has publicly expressed interest to seek its membership.

But with Trump as US president, the Jokowi government can now bide their time to negotiate Indonesia’s membership of the TPP should it still exist as a trade agreement.

Although in the short term, the TPP is likely to be cast aside by Trump for domestic political reasons, it may well be revived in the medium to long term, given that Trump himself is a businessman. This, however, could either be a revised TPP or a TPP renamed to be more in line with America’s vital interests, as defined by the Trump administration.

The continued emphasis placed on cultural diplomacy during Lee’s trip further deepened the relations between Indonesia and Singapore. People-to-people exchanges between the two countries were further enhanced after a memorandum of understanding was signed to boost the Indonesia-Singapore cooperation in the tourism sector.

Jokowi also brought Lee to witness how batik handicrafts were made in Indonesia. The centrality of batik in the exercise of cultural diplomacy was a masterstroke on the part of the Jokowi government to showcase Indonesia’s soft power. But more importantly, this face-to-face batik diplomacy has helped enhance bilateral trust between the two countries.

On defense and security, bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation has been vital in foiling plots by terrorist groups planning to attack both countries, the most recent being the plot by militants to fire a rocket from Batam to Marina Bay in Singapore.

On Indonesia’s tax amnesty, the political communication between the two countries is essential to protect each other’s national interests: for Singapore, its reputation as a leading financial hub; for Indonesia, the recovery of lost revenue from tax evasion and overseas hidden assets in order to use the reclaimed monies to fund, in particular, domestic infrastructure projects.

The abiding focus on cooperation, not confrontation has also been critical in combating the transboundary haze pollution, which has been a recurring bilateral flashpoint in Singapore-Indonesia relations.

Jokowi appreciated Lee’s gratitude on acknowledging, in Jokowi’s words, that “the handling [of the haze problem] has been more organized with stern law enforcement”. The hope is that the social capital built up by the two leaders can transcend parochial interests so as to better combat the haze, and in time, resolve this transboundary problem altogether.

In the interconnected web of bilateral linkages in Southeast Asia, the triumvirate relationship between the maritime countries of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore is arguably the most important in preserving the stability and security of the region.

The personal chemistry between Jokowi, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Lee has been pivotal in strengthening this triumvirate relationship, which comprises three cross-cutting bilateral linkages: Indonesia-Malaysia, Malaysia-Singapore and Indonesia-Singapore relations.

Despite occasional skirmishes as expected between neighbors, Lee’s latest Indonesia visit underscores the deepening engagement in Singapore-Indonesia relations. As both countries look ahead to celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2017, there is arguably now a maturing partnership between the soaring Garuda of Indonesia and the lionized red dot of Singapore.
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The writer is fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.