On February 14, 2006, State Councilor Chen Zhili attended the opening ceremony of the Sixth E-9 Ministerial Review Meeting on Education for All organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Monterrey, Mexico and delivered a speech.

Chen pointed out that over the 12 years since the implementation of the education for all initiative by the nine countries, those nine developing nations whose population account for half of the world's total have made tremendous efforts towards the goal of providing education for all and solved many problems, with great progress being achieved. The Chinese government has made relentless efforts in fulfilling its commitments to education for all, particularly to implementing the common consensus of the 2001 Beijing Declaration.

During the 5 years since 2001 when the Fourth E-9 Meeting was held in Beijing, the population coverage rate of 9-year compulsory schooling in China has risen from 86% to 95%, the net enrollment rate at primary school remained at 99%, the gender gap dropped from 0.07% to 0.04%, the gross enrollment rate at junior high school increased from 89% to 95%, and the illiteracy rate among young and middle-aged adults fell by one percentage point and is kept within 4%.

Chen said that the Chinese government attaches great importance to guaranteeing education opportunities for disadvantaged child and youth and extends special support for students from poor families, children of migrant workers, girl child and disabled child and youth in receiving compulsory education. The Chinese government will increase education budget for the rural area and in the next two years will completely realize free compulsory education in the rural area and establish an effective assistance system. She noted that to provide education for all in China still faces various challenges and the disparities between the urban and rural areas, different regions and schools still exist. Therefore, guided by the scientific concept of people-oriented, comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development, the Chinese government will consistently give top priority to education, provide quality education for all and pave the way for building a harmonious society.

Chen called on the nine countries to help each other and join hands to realize education for all and work hard towards the objectives of the Dakar Framework for Action.

The education ministers of China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Brazil, Egypt and Nigeria were present at the opening ceremony. The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura and the President of Mexico, Vicente Fox Quesada addressed the ceremony.

During the opening ceremony, Chen Zhili and President Fox jointly attended the signing ceremony of the China-Mexico memorandum of understanding on opening the Confucius Institute.

Chen arrived in Mexico on February 13 at the invitation of the Director-General of UNESCO.