INDONESIA and Australia finalised a new bilateral defence treaty today that will enhance the neighbouring nations’ ability to operate their militaries in each other’s territory.

The agreement was reached as visiting Indonesian president-elect Prabowo Subianto, who also serves as defence minister, met Australian officials including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the parliament in Canberra.

The pact will be signed within days, when Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles visits Jakarta.

Mr Marles said the successful conclusion of negotiations after two years was significant for both countries’ national security.

He told reporters: “What this agreement will do is provide for much greater interoperability between our defence forces; it will provide for much more exercises between our defence forces.

Mr Marles added that “it will see us working together with the global commons to support the rules-based order and, importantly, it will allow us to operate from each other’s countries.

“And in that sense, this agreement will be the deepest, the most significant agreement that our two countries have ever made.”

Mr Subianto described the agreement as “ironing out some legalistic details” and said that it represented “great progress” in defence co-operation.

The president-elect has made it clear that, under his leadership, Indonesia intends to remain non-aligned in world affairs, rather than siding with any major power bloc.

With around 275 million people, Indonesia has 10 times the population of Australia.

Mr Subianto told reporters: “We have had our ups and downs as the political situation and the geopolitical situation of course evolved, but I think we are very happy today to have several decades of very close co-operation.” 

Mr Albanese said: “There is no more important relationship than the relationship between our two great nations.”