TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian President Joko Widodo or Jokowi embarked on a journey to Melbourne this morning, March 4, to attend the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit and engage in discussions with various government leaders, including Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.

In a press statement at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base on Monday, he stated that one of the topics of discussion during the bilateral meeting was the project and investments for Indonesia’s new capital city of Nusantara or IKN.

He reaffirmed that defense cooperation would be discussed during his meeting with Albanese, yet he refrained from providing any specific details.

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles declared that Indonesia and Australia aspire to sign a significant defense cooperation agreement within the forthcoming months. Marles made the announcement on Friday, Feb. 23, after a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta.

“Australia and Indonesia have a shared destiny and a shared collective security and that is the basis on which we are moving forward,” Marles said as quoted from Reuters.

In a joint statement, Prabowo lauded the warm relationship and stated that the two nations were fated to be good neighbors. Prabowo is likely to become Indonesia's next president in the wake of the Feb. 14 election, given that the official vote count by the General Election Commission (KPU) is still underway and currently favors the Defense Minister.

However, the two ministers declined to provide any specifics about the agreement, but Prabowo claimed that the signing was anticipated within the next two to three months.

DANIEL A. FAJRI

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