Cuba is organizing the first World Literacy Congress to assist UNESCO in its fight against illiteracy, to be held parallel to Pedagogy 2005 - a biennial meeting on the challenges of education that gathers world specialists.

The literacy conference is in response to the failure of the current UN-sponsored "Education for All" project that would take ten years to teach only 60 million of the world"s 850 million illiterates to read and write, Cuba"s Education Minister Luis Ignacio Gomez said.

That project lacks effective strategies and actions to reduce illiteracy on the planet, a problem seen as unsolvable by diverse international organizations, said Gomez.

The minister said Cuba will share its success in wiping out illiteracy in this country, as well as its use of communication media in teaching, and is confident that the Congress will be a success.

The parallel Pedagogy 2005 Congress, Jan 31-Feb 4 next year, will be held at International Havana Convention Center to which Cuba will present its achievements in basic secondary education, teacher training, and bringing university level teaching to everyone, the minister informed.