Andrew Barr travels to South Korea and Japan documents with trip to China also suggested

The trips signal the territory government's growing emphasis on forging international trade relationships, making up time lost during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr and officials have travelled to South Korea and Japan this week.

The ACT delegation will hold meetings with LG, Samsung, Hyundai and Panasonic over the week, with a statement from the Chief Minister saying the trip will focus on the electrification of the territory.

Mr Barr will also visit Nara, Canberra's sister city, as the cities marks the 30^th anniversary of their partnership.

There will also be a tour of the Seoul Arts Centre, with the government saying this would offer an insight into "modern theatre precincts" ahead of the redevelopment of the Canberra Theatre precinct.

The trip will cost about $25,000.

But Mr Barr and ACT Commissioner for International Engagement Brendan Smyth will be packing their suitcases for several more trips this year, documents released under freedom of information reveal.

A ministerial briefing to Mr Barr shows planned trips to the United Kingdom, France, Spain, The United States, Thailand, Vietnam, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Indonesia and Singapore over the next financial year.

Further trips to China, Singapore, India, Thailand, Vietnam and the US are planned for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 financial years, the briefing shows, which was given to Mr Barr in November.

So far this year, Mr Barr travelled to Singapore in February and Fiji and New Zealand in October.

The aim of those missions was to lobby for the return of international flights to Canberra. Direct flights between Canberra and Nadi were announced last week and are scheduled to start in July.

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The commissioner of international engagement role was established in 2016.

Mr Smyth's appointment was controversial as the former Canberra Liberals leader left ACT politics ahead of the 2016 election to take up the role.

The ACT government released an international engagement strategy in December, saying it was focused on markets with strategic and commercial relevance to the territory.

"Canberra - with its innovation programs and precincts and established strengths in advanced technology and high growth industries of the future - has limitless possibilities," the strategy said.

"To make the most of our potential it is important the government direct its effort toward international markets that have [the] strongest strategic and commercial relevance to the ACT's economic landscape."

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