Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has described a private meeting with her Indonesia counterpart Retno Marsudi as “warm” and “very candid”.

The private conversation, held without the presence of aids, was the first formal talks between Australia and Indonesia since the execution of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

“Foreign minister Marsudi asked if we could have a confidential discussion and she asked if it could just be one-on-one, and of course I agreed to that,” Ms Bishop told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

• Broken wing confirmed as MH370 fragment
• Gillard apologises to Xenophon

“Staff and advisers and representatives left the room and we were able to have a long discussion, just the two of us.

“I won’t go into specific details of our conversation but we discussed a whole range of issues that are facing Australia and Indonesia and how we can work together.”

Ms Bishop would not reveal if Australia’s controversial asylum seeker policy was discussed.

Before the meeting, the Minister said the topics of live cattle, people smuggling and intelligence sharing might be raised.

– with AAP