Prime Minister Julia Gillard Monday announced she will make her first foreign visits since becoming leader, beginning with next month's Asia-Europe Meeting in Brussels.
Gillard has until now had little exposure on the international stage.
Her upcoming overseas travel appears designed to change that, with Gillard leading Australia's inaugural participation in the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Brussels on October 4-5.
Gillard said she would be in Vietnam on October 29-30 for the East Asia Summit in Hanoi and would participate in the inaugural ASEAN-Australia leaders' summit.
And in November, Australia's first woman prime minister will attend the G20 summit in Seoul, South Korea as well as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' meeting in Yokohama, Japan later that month.
"The prime minister will work closely with other world leaders at these meetings, and in associated bilateral meetings, to advance Australia's interests, strengthen regional stability and prosperity and promote the global economic recovery," Gillard's office said in a statement.
Gillard's Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd -- who she ousted as leader in June -- has wasted little time in settling into his new role, visiting flood-devastated Pakistan and meeting top officials in Washington on the weekend.
Rudd, who reportedly chatted briefly with Barack Obama when the US president dropped into a Washington meeting, held a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The Mandarin-speaking former diplomat is now in New York for meetings ahead of the United Nations General Assembly.
