U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today helped launch the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNECSO) Literacy Decade. The event was held at the New York Public Library.

Secretary Paige's prepared remarks follow:

Thank you, Dr. LeClerc, for your kind words and for your hospitality on this special occasion. Walking into this magnificent library reminded me of the Argentine poet, essayist, and short-story writer Jorge Luis Borges, who said: "I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library."

This is indeed a paradise of books and learning, and I applaud your leadership, Dr. LeClerc, in helping ensure that as many people as possible have access to this rich treasure of knowledge.

Someone else I know who shares my awe at our surroundings traveled with us today. She is a former elementary school librarian--and our country could not ask for a better role model and advocate for the cause of education and the children it benefits than our First Lady, Mrs. Bush.

I want to thank Princess Firyal for her excellent comments on the importance of a literate society. I look forward to hearing your comments as well, Mr. Secretary General, and I applaud the United Nation's work in this important area.

I owe my invitation here tonight to my friend, Director General Matsuura. For the Director General and me, this is a continuation of an on-going conversation. Education is a passion for him and it shows--not only in the progress he has made with organizational reform of UNESCO, but also in his leadership with this bold new initiative to erase the scourge of illiteracy in our world.

We owe a special debt of gratitude to Mongolia's President Bagabandi for getting the ball rolling on this literacy initiative.

Our nation is poised to rejoin UNESCO, because--as President Bush pointed out last fall--this organization is committed to advancing human rights, tolerance, and learning.

It's a noble goal that we all share. We must devote ourselves to making education a universal reality now. For too many have waited too long for this day to come.

In our country, President Bush has rallied the leadership to change the way we educate our children in America from places that educated some children well, to places that educate all children well. Our country is literally transforming our schools. We are holding them accountable for student progress, and we are insisting that classroom instruction is based upon what science tells us works when it comes to teaching children.

We want every child in our schools to succeed--and a great body of research tells us that the place to start is by teaching children early in their lives the skill upon which all other learning is based: Reading.

This is so important to us that we are teaching our teachers how to better teach children to read. We are educating parents about how they can better help their children learn this important skill. And we are targeting historic levels of funding specifically to improve reading achievement in our nation's schools.

Literacy is freedom. A child who can read is a child who can learn. And a child who can learn is a child who can succeed and become an active, contributing participant in society who then passes on that love of learning to his or her children.

And so we at the United States Department of Education are proud to partner with you in this important Decade of Literacy to ensure Education for All of the world's citizens, not just some of them.

With 860 million illiterate adults and more than 100 million children worldwide without access to school, the enormity of the challenge is clear. But ours is a small world, and our futures are inextricably linked. And one person who cannot read is one person too many.

So while we work to improve our education system here at home, we are committed to working with you in the cause of greater literacy for all people, in all nations.

Thank you very much.