Alberta to open 6 new trade offices

Premier Alison Redford has announced the locations of six new provincial trade offices, including a second one in China.

The new offices will be set up in California, Chicago, Brazil, Singapore and India.

Alberta has a trade office in Hong Kong, but the premier says another one will be situated in Beijing to cover the large Chinese market.

"From my perspective, Hong Kong wasn't sufficient enough to allow us to do that. I think it was effective for what we needed to achieve earlier. There's so much more work to be done now that we think it's important to bolster those resources."

Redford said the province needs to diversify and move away from its heavy trade reliance on the United States.

The officeswill open over the next two years.