TORONTO -- He is only 12 years of age and is in the seventh grade, but this "whiz kid," as the Canadian mainstream media calls him, has found a place in a high-powered business delegation traveling to China.

Keith Peiris, a Sri Lankan Canadian who is president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Ontario-based Cyberteks Design, is accompanying Prime Minister Jean Chretien on his trade mission to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong next month, says Deepal Peiris, Keith's father.

Deepal Peiris, an accountant by profession who is now a full-time employee of his son's Web design and e-commerce company, told India Abroad that the family is "excited" over the invitation extended to Keith.

"Keith is also very excited for having got this opportunity to travel to China," he said.

According to Deepal Peiris, who is accompanying his son as part of Chretien's team, the company has already fixed up several business meetings in China. He, however, declined to disclose the names of the firms with which discussions are to be held.

Cyberteks Design, which proudly announced on its Web site that Keith is accompanying Chretien, lists 15 top awards from the industry that the 12-year-old has received, along with a number of other honors.

The Web site says the awards were instrumental in the company winning major contracts from Rogers TV's for its new interactive real estate game show, for designing Web pages of the Canadian consulates in New York and Detroit, as well as from Interep, a major United States-based radio advertising company, and Kewl Threads, a hockey apparel company owned by Canada's Maple Leaf.

Keith himself was not available for comment as he was at his St. Bernadelle's School in London, Ontario. His father said that so far Cyberteks has designed around 25 Web sites of major companies and has offices in several U.S. cities, including Detroit and Washington.

Cyberteks was listed amongst the top 50 Web design companies in Canada. The list was prepared and published in the National Post's business magazine of March 2000. In an address in 1999, California-based Macromedia chairman and CEO Robert Burgess introduced Keith as one of the youngest Web designers in North America to use Macromedia flash in commercial Web sites. That was when Keith was barely 11 years old.

Keith, his father said, started playing with computers when he was only three years old. Deepal Peiris takes credit for inducing his son to take interest in computers and the Internet.