Prime Minister Tony Abbott has held what is likely to be his final meeting with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and says his replacement has big shoes to fill.
The prime minister met with Dr Yudhoyono on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, local time.
With Mr Abbott yet to decide whether he can attend the presidential handover in Jakarta next month, he was keen to thank Dr Yudhoyono for his friendship to Australia over ten years in Indonesia's top job.
"While I expect to work well and warmly with his successor I certainly at a human level am sorry that President Yudhoyono is going," he told reporters.
"I'm sure Jokowi will be an excellent president of Indonesia - but he does have big shoes to fill."
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Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, was elected earlier this year and will be inaugurated in October.
