FORMER US president Barack Obama has touched down in Australia for a private speaking engagement.

He arrived at Sydney Airport at lunchtime on Friday ahead of an event at the Art Gallery of NSW hosted by the New Zealand United States Council.

A motorcade of vans, SUVs and more than a dozen police motorbikes, transported Mr Obama from the airport to a hotel in Sydney’s CBD.

media_camera Coffee in hand former US president Barack Obama gets off the plane at Sydney International Airport. Picture: Mega

Police helicopters swirled above the building as he was driven into it.

Mr Obama flew in from New Zealand where he met Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and former leader John Key.

media_camera Mr Obama waves on his way to his Sydney speech.

media_camera The former president waves to the crowd before getting into a waiting car at the airport. Picture: 9 NEWS

media_camera Mr Obama is set to meet with the PM during his trip. Picture: 9 NEWS

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Thursday said he was due to “catch up and have a chat” with the former US president who’s on a week-long tour of New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Japan.

Mr Obama will attend a marquee function for just 350 guests at the Art Gallery of NSW on March 23.

It’s not the first time he’s sat down with Mr Turnbull. In 2016 the pair posed for a series of selfies during the then-Commander-in-Chief’s last official bilateral meeting in Lima.

media_camera The motorcade heads into the city. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

media_camera Security remains tights around the airport. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts.

media_camera Security even checks the waiting media’s equipment. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts.

Heaps of people out to see Obama in Sydney @dailytelegraph pic.twitter.com/m5Gxbt6Sj3 — Chris Harris (@Chris____Harris) March 23, 2018

READ MORE: Barack Obama’s plans for his Sydney trip

READ MORE: Barack Obama heads to Australia for speaking tour

At the time Mr Obama said the US-Australia alliance would remain as “robust as ever” and also thanked Australian men and women in uniform for their contribution to the fight against Islamic State, claiming that much of the success of the campaign against the terror group was attributable to Australia.

media_camera Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull and President Barack Obama snap a selfie in Peru.

The former US president visited Brisbane in November 2014 for the G20 heads of government talks and before that made a whistlestop tour in 2011 where he met with former prime minister Julia Gillard before heading to Darwin to address soldiers at an RAAF base.

Next up, he’s off to Tokyo on Sunday.

media_camera During the 2014 G20 meeting in Brisbane the president met wild animals alongside Tony Abbott. Picture: Getty Images

Originally published as Obama brings Sydney to standstill