MEXICO CITY – U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige traveled to Mexico City on his first foreign trip as secretary to meet with Mexican education officials, tour an elementary school and formally renew U.S.-Mexico bilateral cooperation in the field of education.

Paige is in Mexico City Nov. 24-26 to participate in the United States-Mexico Binational Commission Meeting, which includes a working group on education. This working group is co-chaired by Secretary Paige and his Mexican counterpart, Secretary of Education Reyes Tamez Guerra. While in Mexico, Paige will also address representatives of the Mexican Congressional Education Committees, members of the higher education community, teachers and university students.

"There is nothing more important to both of our countries than the future of our children," Paige said. "I am so happy to be in Mexico to discuss educational initiatives that benefit both of our countries from migrant education and language acquisition to the development of new technologies. We commend President Vicente Fox for his dedication to ensuring that every child in Mexico has access to a good education. We appreciate the high level of cooperation that we have received in Mexico and we look forward to continued success through these binational programs."

Annex VII, the new addition to the U.S.-Mexico Memorandum of Understanding on Education, covers the years 2002-2004 and addresses topics such as higher education, special education, adult and vocational education and the strengthening of educational statistics and indicators.

"In the United States, through the leadership of our President George W. Bush, we have a new education law called No Child Left Behind, which will help us close the unjust achievement gap that exists between minority children and their peers. We will fully utilize this law to help children that were being left behind, many of them new immigrants from Mexico and other countries. The No Child Left Behind Act has put new hope in the hearts of these children and their parents."

The binational agreement focuses on cooperation to improve primary, secondary and postsecondary education. Areas of interest include encouraging educational projects along the border region, facilitating the immediate school enrollment of migrant children, promoting teacher exchanges and development as well as strengthening mutual understanding of the two cultures through joint initiatives such as foreign language acquisition.

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