Trade and economic ties are expected to be the focus of Malcolm Turnbull’s first visit to Jakarta as prime minister on Thursday.
The prime minister will miss the final sitting day of parliament to hold the first face-to-face meeting with the Indonesia president, Joko Widodo, since the execution by firing squad in April of the Bali Nine duo, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
Turnbull’s visit is an attempt to reset one of Australia’s most important regional relationships and to move on deepening economic ties before next week’s visit by the trade minister, Andrew Robb.
Tony Abbott came to government declaring he would pursue a foreign policy which prioritised “Jakarta, not Geneva”, but the bilateral relationship was buffeted by tensions over asylum boat turnbacks, revelations Australia had spied on, or attempted to spy on, the president Susilo Yudhoyono, his wife and nine members of their inner circle in 2009 and, later, the executions of Chan and Sukumaran.
While cooperation continued at the diplomatic level throughout the fracture prompted by the Bali Nine executions, ministerial visits between the two countries only resumed in August.
Widodo began his term by implementing a raft of protectionist measures but more recent signs suggest the government in Jakarta is rethinking its initial populist, anti-liberalisation trade stance.
Indonesia has signalled it now wants to join the trans-Pacific partnership, the controversial trade pact between 12 economies including Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Vietnam and the US.
The TPP, if formalised, will create the world’s largest free trade area. The US-led deal, as well as prompting trade liberalisation, is seen by many analysts as a strategic counterbalance to growing Chinese economic power and influence in the region.
Robb will follow up Turnbull’s visit to Jakarta, taking a trade delegation after the meeting in Manila of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation – a grouping of 21 Pacific Rim economies. Apec’s core objective is trade liberalisation.
Turnbull will continue on from Jakarta to visit Berlin – meeting the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, on Friday.
That visit will also have a business focus but, given the proximity of looming UN-led climate talks in Paris, and Europe’s continuing migration crisis, international climate policy and immigration are also expected to be addressed during the one-day visit.
Turnbull will round out his trip by attending the G20 summit in Turkey, the Apec talks in Manila, and the east Asia summit in Kuala Lumpur.
Over the course of the summits, the Australian prime minister is expected to hold his first bilateral meetings with major counterparts, including Barack Obama, Britain’s prime minister, David Cameron, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, and the new Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
Turnbull will be accompanied for much of the visit by his wife, Lucy, and the finance minister, Mathias Cormann.
