Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto recently told Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about how seriously he takes the war against drug crimes and people smuggling.

Both leaders are currently in the Peruvian capital of Lima for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. Prabowo and Albanese had breakfast together on Thursday local time ahead of the forum. It was also then that Prabowo touched on what he perceived as “common problems”, as seen in a video shown by the Presidential Secretariat.

“I think we have common problems. [The fight against] narcotics is very serious on my agenda, narcotics, people smuggling. … But on the whole, I think we have managed very well,” Prabowo told Albanese.

Earlier during the breakfast, the Indonesian leader said that he was “very happy” with the current state of security cooperation. But he admitted that the bilateral relationship had fluctuated.

He added: “Australia is a very good friend of Indonesia. We have a long relationship. As neighbors, we sometimes have our ups and downs, but we will remain neighbors forever.”

Parts of the breakfast made public did not show Albanese’s response to Prabowo’s statement in regards to narcotics and people smuggling. But Albanese had brought up the bilateral treaty-level defense pact signed in August when Prabowo was still the defense minister. Both countries have just launched their joint combat drills earlier this week. According to Albanese, Australia and Indonesia have had a “wonderful relationship” over the past years under the preceding Joko “Jokowi” government.

“I look forward to the relationship being even stronger in the future,” Albanese told Prabowo, who only rose to power a month ago.

Indonesia and Australia have had past disagreements. Indonesia has become a transit country for asylum seekers en route to Australia. In 2015, Indonesia’s execution of Australian drug smugglers --  namely the Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran -- drew criticisms from Canberra. Then Prime Minister Tony Abott called the executions “cruel and unnecessary” because both men had already gone through rehabilitation. The Bali Nine gang was caught trying to smuggle over 8 kilograms of heroin from Indonesia to Australia in 2005.

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