Boosting trade amid growing tensions in the Indo-Pacific will be at the top of the agenda when Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrives in Australia for crucial talks.
Widodo will land in Sydney on Monday night ahead of a three-day visit to Australia in what is likely to be his last trip to the country as leader before his term ends.
The Indonesian president will hold talks with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday, with trade and investment, infrastructure and the climate transition, as well as education initiatives on the agenda.
Visa arrangements between Australia and Indonesia will also be part of the bilateral talks in a bid to increase movement between the countries.
Widodo will hold an event with business leaders in Sydney before meeting with Governor-General David Hurley at Admiralty House.
Indonesian ministers, as well as their Australian counterparts, will also take part in the talks.
The two leaders will then hold one-on-one talks at Taronga Zoo, where the pair will visit a Sumatran tiger exhibit.
It is expected education initiatives involving boosting the number of people speaking Indonesian in Australia will be announced.
It comes as international students from Indonesia at Australian universities have rebounded following COVID-induced disruptions to the sector.
West Australian Premier Roger Cook will also hold talks with the Indonesian president in Sydney, with the pair likely to discuss Indonesia’s transition towards renewable energy and the development of its electric vehicle manufacturing industry.
Indonesia has been looking at developing electric vehicle infrastructure across the country.
An agreement is expected to be signed between the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and WA on critical mineral supplies.
A memorandum of understanding was signed between the two parties on the issue in February.
Defence issues, such as the AUKUS partnership and tensions in the region, are also expected to be discussed between Albanese and his Indonesian counterpart.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Gatra Priyandita said Australia’s development of the AUKUS security pact with the United States and the United Kingdom would be central to international relations in the area.
“There’s a position of cautious optimism, particularly about AUKUS, but Jokowi (Widodo) and senior defence command have been more open to the idea of collaboration and see AUKUS and the Quad more broadly as an opportunity,” he told AAP.
“Once Jokowi leaves office, this will be one of the primary challenges in relations.”
Regardless of who succeeds Widodo, Priyandita said the relationship with Australia had stabilised in the past decade.
“Whoever replaces Jokowi inherits a much more developed and cooperative relationship compared to when he assumed the presidency in 2014 when the relationship was recovering from the phone-hacking scandal, and Australia was spying on the political elite,” he said.
