Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull flies out Thursday on his first major overseas tour to meet world leaders since he ousted Tony Abbott two months ago from the top post in a party-room vote, according to dpa. His first stop in the busy 11 day tour is Jakarta to meet Indonesian President Joko Widodo in a bid to improve relations, which deteriorated under Abbott over the April execution of two Australian drug traffickers. Australia's ambassador was withdrawn for several weeks in protest. Turnbull will be pressing for better trade ties and a new start to diplomatic relations. Turnbull then flies to Berlin, accepting a personal invitation from Chancellor Angela Merkel to meet before the G20. Turnbull's wife, Lucy, a commercial lawyer, businesswoman and former lord mayor of Sydney, has strong connections with Germany as president of the German-Australian Chamber of Business and Commerce. Business links and climate goals will be key to talks with Merkel as Turnbull, unlike his predecessor, is not a climate change sceptic and promoter of coal. At the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey, Turnbull will be the sixth new face representing Australia in six years. Turnbull will be a far more urbane and receptive leader than the pugnacious Abbott, who notoriously threatened to confront - "shirt-front" in Aussie lingo - Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 2014 Brisbane G20 summit over the downing of flight MH17. Turnbull then flies on to Manila, where 21 economic leaders meet for the APEC summit, and then to Kuala Lumpur where 18 national leaders meet for the East Asia Summit and the launch of the ASEAN Community, an Asian version of the European Union.
