Indonesia and Australia are close to signing a new defense treaty

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Indonesian and Australian leaders said Wednesday they were close to signing a new bilateral defense treaty.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the pact during the Indonesian leader’s first state visit to Australia.

Albanese said he hoped to sign the completed treaty during a visit to Indonesia in January.

“The governments of Australia and Indonesia have just substantively concluded negotiations on a new bilateral treaty on our common security,” Albanese told reporters in a statement with Prabowo in Sydney.

“This treaty will commit Australia and Indonesia to consult at a leader and ministerial level on a regular basis on matters of security, to identify and undertake mutually beneficial security activities, and if either or both countries’ security is threatened, to consult and consider what measures may be taken either individually or jointly, to deal with those threats,” Albanese added.

Prabowo said: “We, I think, concluded an important agreement, an important treaty between Australia and Indonesia.”

“Good neighbors will help each other in times of difficulties and in the Indonesian culture, we have a saying when we face an emergency, it is our neighbor that will help us,” Prabowo said.