The Australian Prime Minister's office announced on Thursday that Prime Minister Julia Gillard will visit Indonesia on July 4-5 and hold bilateral talks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The Opposition pressured the prime minister to talk with the Indonesian leader about how to stem the flow of asylum seekers arriving in Australian waters.

Trade Minister Craig Emerson said that the two leaders were likely to discuss asylum seekers because it was a regional problem that could only be addressed by a regional solution.

Indonesian authorities were working with Australian agencies on intercepting boats and providing intelligence on people smuggling operations, Emerson said.

He said that the talks between Gillard and President Yudhoyono will be productive, even though both leaders are at the tail end of their leadership.

Australia is scheduled to hold federal elections on September 14 and the ruling Labor Party is widely considered an underdog. President Yudhoyono is retiring in 2014.

Emerson said the talks have been long planned and will include issues other than asylum seekers, such as the live cattle trade.

"This is actually the third meeting at leaders level," he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday when asked why the talks were being left to late in the government's term of office.

"The time is actually set by the Indonesian authorities."

Australian Greens leader Christine Milne called on the prime minister to use the trip to announce an increase in Australia's humanitarian refugee intake.

"Australia has not increased the humanitarian intake from Indonesia and that's clearly what we need to be doing," she told reporters.