Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to fly to Indonesia today, in his first overseas trip since re-election.
The two-day visit to Jakarta will kick off with the annual leaders meeting between Albanese and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, coming a day after the PM's new Ministry was sworn in.
The visit is expected to place importance on trade and deepen defence relations between the two countries, after reports during the Australian election campaign that Russia had requested to base military aircraft in Papua, which is located 1,200 km north of Darwin, a strategic military location where a U.S. Marine Corps force is based for six months of the year.
Indonesia denied the reports.
"We have no more important relationship than Indonesia just to our north," Albanese said in an interview with the 7:30 Report.
“They will grow to be the fourth largest economy in the world... [the visit will be] a signal to our region of the importance that we place on this region.”
The trip will also include a stop in Rome for the PM, where he will attend newly appointed Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural Mass.
