Australian special forces moving into Iraq

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has confirmed Australian special forces are moving into Iraq to take the fight against Islamic State militants into a new phase.

Abbott announced the new movement after talks with US President Barack Obama at the APEC summit in Beijing.

"Our priority at the moment is getting our special forces into Baghdad and then into the field on the advise and assist mission that we've set them," he said.

"That's happening and I'm confident that our people will do good work."

"But... in the end, no-one is going to fight harder for Iraq than Iraqis will fight for themselves."

"We are helping them to reclaim their country from something which is evil, from something which is a menace to them and if it's allowed to remain will be a menace to all of us."

The announcement came just moments after discussions with Obama, where Obama asked Australia to supplement its commitment to responding to the fundamentalist Islamic State group.

"The ISIL death cult is a menace to the whole world," Abbott said.

"They've declared war on the world and it's good that the president, working with the Iraqi government, has assembled a strong coalition to assist the Iraqi government to respond effectively and ultimately to regain control over its own territory."

"So it is important to respond strongly, which is what the US-led Coalition is doing."

Obama and Abbott discuss Iraq campaign

The Iraq campaign was top of the agenda when Mr Obama and Mr Abbott had a lengthy one-on-one meeting before the APEC summit in Beijing on Monday.

The talks came days after Mr Obama announced he was sending an extra 1500 US troops into the strife-torn nation to help train local security forces.

"We're moving to a slightly different phase now," the US president told reporters after the meeting.

Initially, the campaign had been aimed at stopping Islamic State's advance, now it is to build up the Iraqi security forces so they can fight effectively on their own, he said.

"As we are setting that up, I am having conversations with Australia and other coalition partners that are already committed to putting trainers in to see how they can supplement and work with us in this overall effort," he said.

Responding to Mr Obama's comments, Mr Abbott called IS a menace to the whole world.

"It is important to respond strongly, which is what the US-led coalition is doing," he said.

But he was non-committal on the prospect of Australia boosting its troop numbers.

"Our priority at the moment is getting our special forces into Baghdad and then into the field on the advise and assist mission we've set them.

"That's happening and I'm confident our people will do good work."

The leaders also discussed the upcoming G20 in Brisbane, regional trade and China's proposal for an Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Earlier, both men participated in a meeting of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, ambitious US-led plan to open up trade barriers among 12 Asia-Pacific nations.

Mr Abbott also had meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

Mr Abbott is also set to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Moscow-backed Ukrainian separatist attack on Malaysia Airlines plane MH17 when the pair meet on Tuesday.

Mr Abbott made international headlines when he threatened to "shirt-front" the Russian leader over the attack that killed 298 people, including 38 Australians.

But Mr Abbott is now playing down the prospect of fireworks, saying his talks with Mr Putin were "by no means the biggest part" of his APEC agenda.

Mr Abbott will head to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, on Wednesday for the ASEAN East Asia Summit.

He will return to Australia on Friday.