Trade Minister Ed Fast will head a trade mission to China and Japan in April in an effort to reduce its trade dependence on the United States, Canada's number one trading partner.

Following the U.S.'s announcement to delay the Keystone XL pipeline project, Prime Minister Stephen Harper late December approved the handover of $15.1 billion Nexen company to China's state owned company CNOOC.  

According to the statement last Wednesday, Ed Fast's visit will be from April 7 to April 12 where he will visit several market hubs in China and Japan to deepen trade and investment ties with the two Asian countries.

Ed Fast will visit Chinese cities like Shanghai, Hong Kong and Hangzhou in China and the Japanese capital Tokyo on his five-day visit to Asia.

Fast will meet with Canadian delegates at the Asian ICT Expo in Hong Kong.

"Our government is committed to helping Canadian companies ... expand and succeed in China and Japan and other fast-growing markets in the Asia-Pacific region," Huffington Post quoted the trade minister as saying.

Ed Fast's main reason to visit Japan is to focus on the Japanese information and communication technologies sector.

"Improving access to high-growth markets in the Asia-Pacific region is a key part of our government's job creating, pro-trade plan," said Fast after announcing his planned visit to the two Asian nations.

The visit will be Fast's third visit to China and his second trip to Japan. The minister visited China along with the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper last year.

However, the main investment and trade promotion agreement drafted during Harper's visit to China is not yet ratified.  

When contacted, a spokesman told the Wall Street Journal that the full schedule of the visit was not yet finalized.

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