A 12-year-old Web whiz kid reportedly will join about 300 business and political leaders accompanying Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien on a trade mission to China.

Keith Peiris, founder of the award-winning Web site design company Cyberteks Design in June 1999, said he is "just like any other kid," according to a Reuters report. But the company he heads lists about 25 clients in North America and he is presently faced with deciding whether to sell out to US or Hong Kong investors for several million dollars. Cyberteks has grown about 600 percent over the last seven months, Reuters said.

The eighth-grader, whose Web sites are dominated by music and animation, is cited by Reuters as saying one of his biggest headaches is convincing prospective clients that doing business with his firm is a sound move, despite his tender age. He and his father, Deepal, vice president of operations, are slated to spend nine days on the Team Canada trip to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, where Canada hopes to showcase the best of Canadian business.

The site is at http://www.cyberteks.com/ .

Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com/ .

07:33 CST