Australian leader visits Indonesia seeking deeper economic and defense ties

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Australia’s newly reelected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Thursday, in a visit aiming to strengthen his country’s economic and defense ties with its closest major neighbor.

Albanese arrived in the capital, Jakarta, on Wednesday evening, a day after his new government was sworn in, to promote the importance of building stronger ties with Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

“That is … a signal to our region of the importance that we place on this region. We will be in the fastest growing region of the world in human history,” Albanese said in an interview last week with the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

He described Subianto as a “good friend of mine” and hailed the two countries’ close relations.

Albanese’s center-left Labor Party won a second three-year term in an emphatic election victory May 3.

He was welcomed by Subianto in a ceremony at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta where he was escorted by dozens of motorized troops and cavalry while about 3,200 schoolchildren waved the flags of both countries along the streets, according to Indonesia’s presidential office.

The two leaders’ talks are expected to “produce several concrete agreements that could bring direct benefits to the people of both countries,” the office said.

Albanese’s two-day visit is an indication of the countries’ strategic closeness. Their discussions will also include food security, energy, trade and other bilateral priorities, Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

Newly elected Australian prime ministers typically make their first bilateral visit to Asia, usually Indonesia.

In his first visit to Indonesia after his inauguration in 2022, Albanese also visited Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province with close ties to Indigenous Australians.

Albanese’s second visit to Jakarta comes amid global economic upheaval sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal tariff” trade policy.

Australia was hit during its election campaign with a global-minimum 10% tariff on exports to the U.S. despite trading with its bilateral free trade partner at a deficit for decades, while Indonesia is subject to 32%. The two countries have for the past month negotiated with Washington for a better trade deal.

Media reports said last month that Russia told Jakarta it wants to base long-range warplanes in Papua, the most eastern Indonesian province, a plan that was raised as a security issue during the Australian election campaign. Indonesia has told Australia that no such Russian base would be allowed.

Given their geographical proximity, Indonesia and Australia have traditionally maintained close ties with each other, including in matters of security and defense, despite the fact that each country has chosen to respond differently to the rivalry between the U.S. and China in the region.

The two neighbors last year signed a historic Defense Cooperation Agreement that will allow more complex joint activities and exercises. Canberra hailed the agreement as the “deepest and most significant” defense deal in the two countries’ bilateral ties.

Albanese will head on to Rome on Friday morning to attend the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV on Sunday.

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Associated Press writer Rod McGuirk in Melbourne contributed to this report.