In Detroit he will tour the Motorola intelligent vehicles test site, and meet the Governor of Michigan.

The Minister will also visit the Hydrogen Village project in Toronto, a private-public partnership, developed to accelerate and sustain the application and commercialisation of hydrogen and fuel cell products and services.

The Hydrogen Village has a number of demonstration projects, which deploy various hydrogen production, storage and delivery techniques.

He will also visit the University of Toronto, which uses fuel cells to provide some of its power requirements, and a parcel delivery company that uses hydrogen fuel cells to power its delivery vehicles.

Mr Davies said, "This technology is specifically relevant to Wales where the hydrogen fuel cell was first developed in Swansea by William Grove in 1839, and with our Hydrogen Valley initiative and the hydrogen farm project in Carmarthen.

"We need to be actively involved in the development of emerging technologies and ensure Welsh businesses - particularly in the automotive sector - are in a position to benefit."

An Assembly spokesman added, "North America remains a very high priority for Wales, and the USA continues to be its number one trade destination with exports growing year on year.

"Latest figures show that exports from Welsh companies to the USA increased by over 26% last year.

"Exports from Wales to Canada are strong, with Welsh exports increasing by circa £400m over the previous 12 months.

"This represents a 5.2% rise, more than double the UK national average."