Political partnership with Indonesia
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison meets with Indonesian President Joko Widodo during his first official visit to Indonesia in August, 2018.
Indonesia – the world's third largest democracy with the world's largest Muslim population – is one of Australia's most important bilateral relationships.
Australia and Indonesia have a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP), which is a product of our close bond as neighbours, deep historical ties and extensive cooperation. The CSP coalesces our engagement around five broad pillars: an enhanced economic and development partnership, connecting people, securing our and the region's shared interests, maritime cooperation and contributing to Indo-Pacific security and prosperity. With the activities that take place under the CSP, Australia and Indonesia are jointly forging a future for ourselves, and the region, that reflects our values and mutual interests.
Our cooperation spans a vast array of issues, including education, trade, investment, disaster management, poverty alleviation, governance, infrastructure, transport, security, law enforcement, agriculture and biosecurity. We are also developing connections in new areas of cooperation, such as the blue economy and maritime cultural heritage, cyber security, and the digital and creative economy sectors.
Australia and Indonesia work closely together to combat people smuggling and human trafficking, including by co-chairing the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime. We strongly support cooperative measures with Indonesia to improve border integrity and enforcement. We also continue to work with our regional partners to combat people smuggling and human trafficking, by strengthening legal frameworks and boosting the capabilities of criminal justice agencies and civil society organisations.
Australia and Indonesia also work closely on a range of common strategic interests in regional and global fora. We are the only two members from Southeast Asia in the G20, and cooperate in the East Asia Summit (EAS), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and Mexico, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Turkey and Australia (MIKTA), amongst others.
The bilateral relationship is further underpinned by a series of regular high-level meetings. These include the Indonesia-Australia Annual Leaders' Meeting, the Foreign and Defence Ministers' 2+2 Meeting and the Ministerial Council on Law and Security.
Since taking office in 2014, President Joko Widodo has visited Australia three times. He attended the G20 Summit in Brisbane in 2014, made his first state visit to Australia in 2017 and attended the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Sydney in March 2018.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s first overseas first in his capacity as Leader was to Indonesia in 2018, when he and President Widodo elevated the relationship to a CSP and announced the conclusion of negotiations on the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA). He visited Indonesia again in October 2019 to attend President Widodo’s inauguration for his second term.
Reflecting the importance of our bilateral relationship, our Embassy in Jakarta is our largest in the world. Australia's diplomatic network in Indonesia also includes Consulates in Bali, Surabaya and Makassar, as well as the Permanent Mission to ASEAN.