Jakarta: Indonesia and Australia signed a defense agreement on Thursday, cementing closer ties as Prabowo Subianto prepares to take office as Indonesia’s next president in October.
Subianto, who is serving as defense minister under outgoing President Joko Widodo’s administration, signed the Defense Cooperation Agreement with Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles at Indonesia’s National Military Academy in Magelang, Central Java.
The new pact includes provisions allowing Australian and Indonesian defense forces to operate from each other’s countries.
“We have signed this defense cooperation agreement, which is a historic milestone … to increase our cooperation and help each other address various security threats and promote peace and continued stability in the Asia-Pacific region,” Subianto said during a joint press conference.
“This is not a military alliance, but a defense cooperation. This signifies how we want to continue and preserve our strong ties and good friendship. I am determined to make Indonesia-Australia relations even better in the future.”
The signing took place just a little over a week after Subianto’s visit to Canberra, where he and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the conclusion of negotiations to upgrade their cooperation arrangement to a treaty-level agreement.
In 2022, Indonesia was Albanese’s first visit as prime minister. He vowed to strengthen ties with Jakarta and other Southeast Asian nations in the face of growing tensions with China in the Indo-Pacific region.
Subianto has said he will continue Indonesia’s longstanding policy of non-alignment when he takes office.
Relations between the neighboring countries were “as close as they had ever been” during Widodo’s presidency, Marles said, adding that Australia understood Indonesia’s non-alignment policy.
“It is very much in Australia’s interest to have a non-aligned Indonesia as our closest neighbor,” he said.
“The defense cooperation agreement between our two nations is the deepest, the most significant defense agreement in the history of our bilateral relationship … this is an important piece of international architecture.”
The two countries plan to hold their largest-ever bilateral military exercise in November, he said.
“In Mr. Prabowo, Australia sees a great friend and we really appreciate the work that you’ve done as the minister of defense, and obviously we look forward to your impending presidency.”
