• The agreement allows Australian and Indonesian defense forces to operate from each other’s countries.
• Australia’s Defense Minister Richard Marles emphasized the importance of a non-aligned Indonesia.
• The two countries plan to hold their largest-ever bilateral military exercise in November.

On Thursday, Indonesia and Australia signed a defense agreement, solidifying their closer ties as Prabowo Subianto prepares to assume the presidency of Indonesia in October.

Subianto, currently serving as defense minister under President Joko Widodo, signed the Defense Cooperation Agreement alongside Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles at Indonesia’s National Military Academy in Magelang, Central Java.

The new pact allows 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 friendships. I am determined to make Indonesia-Australia relations even better in the future.”

The signing occurred just over a week after Subianto visited Canberra, where he and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the completion of negotiations to elevate their cooperation arrangement to a treaty-level agreement.

In 2022, Indonesia was Albanese’s first visit as prime minister. He pledged to strengthen ties with Jakarta and other Southeast Asian nations amid rising tensions with China in the Indo-Pacific region.

Subianto has stated that he will maintain Indonesia’s longstanding policy of non-alignment when he assumes office.

Marles said that relations between the neighboring countries were “as close as they had ever been” during Widodo’s presidency, and he noted 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.”

He said the two countries plan to hold their largest-ever bilateral military exercise in November.

“In Mr. Prabowo, Australia sees a great friend and we really appreciate the work that you’ve done as the minister of defense, and we look forward to your impending presidency.”

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