The new Australian Prime Minister has touched down in Indonesia where he’ll be looking to follow in his predecessor’s footsteps.

He has been greeted off the plane by a government official, and will today meet with President Joko Widodo.

The friendship between President Widodo and Malcolm Turnbull was described as a “bromance”.

It was an unusual way of looking at a relationship based on complex economic, security and geographic ties, but the pictures backed up the story.

There were happy snaps of Mr Widodo and his wife when they joined the Turnbulls for dinner at their Point Piper mansion, in Sydney.

Images of the two men taking selfies and strolls together, during President Widodo’s first official visit to Australia in 2017.

And perhaps the most enduring image of the two came while they took an impromptu visit to a crowded marketplace in Jakarta in 2015.

The Indonesian President introduced the Australian Prime Minister to the locals – and the scenes that followed were sweaty, frenetic and symbolic.

Malcolm Turnbull had only become prime minister weeks earlier, and this visit was regarded as a sign of his desire to leave the past behind – in the wake of the Bali Nine executions – and move forward with the Indonesia-Australia relationship.

International relations experts say it’s a smart move by Mr Morrison that he’s also decided to place Indonesia at the top of his international agenda.

“I think it’s important that the Prime Minister has decided to make this his first international trip…and it’ll certainly mean a lot to the Indonesian side,” Matthew Busch, non-resident fellow for the Lowy Institute’s East Asia Program, told 9NEWS.

“Indonesia and Australia will always be neighbours, they’ll never be able to get away from each other…they will always find things crop up and make things difficult from time to time, so it’s important to have the relationships, the diplomacy and the commercial links in place.”

Michael Shoebridge, Director of Defence and Strategy at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said Australia relies on Indonesia for its sense of security.

“One of the reasons Australians feel so secure is because of our location in the world, and a big part of that is the fact that to our north is one of the most populous nations, a peaceful, strong partner to Australia that is really part of our protection in the world,” he said.

Indonesia also has the potential to provide economic benefits to Australia.

“It sees itself as a leader in ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) with the most economic potential to be a real global economic power,” Mr Shoebridge says.

“Australia needs to do the hard work in this relationship to lift our economic partnership.”

Indonesia and Australia have been working on a free trade agreement for around six years now.

On Friday, when Prime Minister Morrison and President Widodo meet at the Indonesian Presidential Palace, it’s expected they’ll sign an agreement to keep working on one.

9NEWS understands it’ll be a political gesture, more than symbolic, and there will still be a number of hurdles to clear.

For Mr Morrison though, this visit is not about making deals – it’s about developing personal ties.

And how he performs that task could impact on Australia’s future relations with a friend, who we don’t always see eye to eye with.