Australia and Indonesia seal treaty-level defense pact

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — A member of the Indonesian Navy Komando Pasukan Katak (KOPASKA) sets security during exercise Rim of the Pacific 2024 on Marine Corps Training Area Bellows, Hawaii, July 26, 2024.  (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Eric Huynh via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)

By Alasdair Pal

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia and Indonesia agreed a treaty-level defence cooperation agreement which allow Australian and Indonesian militaries to operate from each other's countries, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday.

"It will be a vital plank for our two countries to support each other's security, which is vital to both countries, but also to the stability of the region that we share," Albanese told a joint press conference in Canberra with Indonesia President-elect Prabowo Subianto.

Australia and Indonesia share the world's longest maritime boundary and already collaborate on a number of issues, including security, people-trafficking and drug smuggling.

"The map really determines that Australia and Indonesia as the closest of neighbours have a shared destiny, but from this moment forth, that destiny is very much defined by deep strategic trust," Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said.

Australia has struck a number of defence deals in recent years, most notably the AUKUS military alliance with the United States and Great Britain that angered China.

Prabowo said at a forum last November that Indonesia was committed to its policy of non-alignment and would keep good ties with both China and the United States.

(Reporting by Alasdair Pal and Lewis Jackson; Editing by Stephen Coates)