Mr Barr will meet Singapore Airlines executives and Senior Minister of State Josephine Teo on Monday, talking up the newly signed deal for direct international flights between the island city-state and Canberra.

Mr Barr will then lead about 30 Canberra businesses at Australia Week in China, joining Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Trade Minister Steven Ciobo and state and territory leaders.

More than 1000 Australian firms will be represented at the event, with the territory delegation brought together by the Canberra Business Chamber and chief executive Robyn Hendry.

Canberra Airport boss Stephen Byron will join Mr Barr for discussions about international freight opportunities at the airport, before the pair meet China Eastern Airlines to discuss direct international flights. University of Canberra vice-chancellor Stephen Parker will lead education discussions during the trip, which Mr Barr said was an opportunity to reinforce Canberra's presence in critical Asian markets.

"I have been to all of these cities before, Singapore a number of times.

"It is an opportunity to reinforce our presence, and introduce some new businesses and bring back some others who have been there before," Mr Barr said before departing.

"If you want to get those name international brands, you have to go to them. It was the same thing with the airlines, you've just got to be there repeatedly in order to cut through."

Mr Barr will make presentations to Singapore Airlines' tourism agents network as part of the deal signed in January. From September, Canberrans will be able to fly directly to Singapore and Wellington, with direct international services four times each week.

The government's $1.1 million co-operative airline stimulus fund is designed to support international and domestic marketing campaigns to boost tourism and leisure passengers, to match expected demand for business class tickets.

"It will be an opportunity for me to meet with Singapore's agents in Shanghai, Hong Kong and in Singapore," Mr Barr said. "Important opportunities around the tourism side and then also a number of opportunities for individual businesses."

He said individual Canberra businesses had already benefited from the government's continuing presence in Asia, including in business-to-business deals, exports, investment and sales from government land releases.

Among future deals, Mr Barr hopes international hotel chains will consider more than one future development site in Canberra.

"As Treasurer, I have done the rounds of the bond markets and that has certainly helped when the ACT has needed to raise capital," he said.

"The spread on our long-term bonds has come right down. We were a AAA rated jurisdiction that was paying AA+ prices. We've closed that gap as a result of that engagement with the bond market."

Competition had saved the territory tens of millions already, Mr Barr said.

Shaw Vineyard Estate managing director Graham Shaw said he hoped to find new business and to build contacts in China as part of the trip.

"I think particularly for the Asian region, it is very important to be seen to be working with government. It helps with our stature and standing with Asian customers.

"We've been dealing with some people for more than three years before they've placed an order with us. It's a matter of going there, meeting people, then going back, then visiting here," he said.

Octavo Wines director Andrew Ng said travelling with government ministers made a difference with Chinese businesses.

"I think the ACT government is doing a fantastic job in helping local businesses. Size wise, being so small compared with other capitals of the world, it is so important to go out and be seen as part of business delegations," he said.

Last year, Australia's trade with China was valued at $150 billion.

The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement came into force in December.

The journalist is travelling to Singapore as a guest of Singapore Airlines and the Singapore Tourism Board.