But he says he won't return with a final deal to address people smuggling.
Mr Bowen will hold talks with President Jose Ramos-Horta and other senior Timorese officials in Dili before flying on to Indonesia and Malaysia.
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Yesterday, Mr Bowen said Mr Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao were still "very interested" in talking through the idea.
"Certainly that's what I'll be doing when I leave tomorrow," he told the Nine Network.
"We've had some encouraging feedback, obviously it's a big issue for East Timor."
Although Mr Bowen did not expect a deal to emerge from the meetings, he said the visit would provide an important opportunity to discuss the development of a sustainable regional protection framework.
"A framework involving our regional partners is the most effective way to holistically address irregular migration in the region and to remove the incentive for people to undertake the dangerous sea voyages that put lives at risk," he said in a statement.
"(Labor) recognise that the challenges we face are regional and global in their scope."
During the federal election Prime Minister Julia Gillard proposed building an offshore asylum-seeker processing centre in East Timor.
East Timor's Council of Ministers has reportedly since decided it will not consider the plan outside a 50-nation meeting, called the Bali Process.
The process was established in 2002 to counter a surge in people smuggling in Asia and the Pacific.
Mr Bowen said the Australian government was committed to strong cooperation with its regional neighbours.
