MEXICO CITY: Mexican and US officials on Tuesday opened a first joint office to manage the distribution of more than 1.3 billion dollars in US security aid to help fight Mexico`s brutal drug gangs.

The office will oversee transfers of equipment and training under the so-called Merida Initiative, a 1.6-billion-dollar three-year plan for Central America and mainly Mexico which the Obama administration is seeking to extend, a Mexican foreign ministry statement said.

It will allow permanent contact between the two neighbors, the ministry said, as escalating drug violence, which has seen more than 28,000 deaths since 2006, raises increasing concern on both sides of the border.

It "reflects the level of confidence, strength and depth that bilateral relations have reached in the combat against transnational organized crime," the ministry said, after both countries hailed their cooperation in the arrest of top drug kingpin Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias "the Barbie."

US officials in the new office would not carry out intelligence or operations work, in compliance with Mexican law, the statement added.

Mexican officials have complained about long delays in the delivery of the Merida aid, and frequently urge US officials to do more to stop US drug consumption and illegal weapons trafficking to Mexico.

A July 2010 report by the US Government Accountability Office recommended that the State Department develop better measures to track its progress.

BDST: 0932 HRS, September 1, 2010