Prabowo made the statement during a bilateral meeting with Lula at the State Palace in Central Jakarta on Thursday morning.

"We've had a good relationship. Personally I admire your policies and I have followed in your footsteps, because we both have the same interests, same noble goal of increasing people's welfare," Prabowo said, as quoted in a readout published by the Antara state news agency. 

Prabowo also noted that Indonesia and Brazil have many similarities and both are major players in international politics.

"We're both leaders of major countries. We're leaders of strong and successful nations and leaders of growing and developing countries," Prabowo said.

Prabowo made a visit to Brasilia in July this year in conjunction with his trip to the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro in the same month.

Lula made a stopover in Jakarta for a two-day visit as part of his Southeast Asian tour that will also include his participation in the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

In Kuala Lumpur, Lula is expected to hold a meeting with United States President Donald Trump.

Talks are underway for a meeting between Trump and Lula da Silva, officials from both countries told AFP on Wednesday.

Trump has instituted a 50-percent tariff on many Brazilian products and imposed sanctions on several top officials, including a top Supreme Court judge, to punish Brazil for what he termed a "witch hunt" against Bolsonaro.

In September, Brazil's Supreme Court sentenced Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for his role in a botched coup bid after his 2022 election loss to Lula.

But relations between Trump and Lula began to thaw when the two 79-year-old leaders had a brief meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September.