Lays out Policy Imperatives for the Obama Administration during annual CBC Conference
Washington, D.C. (September 25, 2009) – At two headline events on US-Africa policy during the Congressional Black Caucus’s Annual Legislative Conference, Rosa Whitaker, President and CEO of the Whitaker Group and the first ever Assistant US Trade Representative for Africa, called on advocates for Africa to reach out to Congress and the Obama Administration in a concerted effort to support several new trade and investment initiatives for the continent.
At Congressman Donald Payne’s Brain Trust on Africa, Whitaker called on US and African civil society and business organizations to hold US and global leaders accountable for their commitments to Africa, noting that the G8 nations have only delivered on a fraction of the assistance promised at the Gleneagles Summit of 2005.
Prominent business leader and philanthropist Mo Ibrahim gave a compelling presentation calling on Western leaders to recognize and reward good governance in Africa in US policy initiatives. Ibrahim, the pioneer of Africa’s first major cellular telephone company, emphasized that good governance was the foundation for prosperity in Africa. Congressman Payne, who serves as Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, pledged to fight for an enhanced US African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and praised Ibrahim for his Foundation’s Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, a $5 million annual award which is granted to a former African Head of State who has demonstrated excellence in African leadership.
Several attendees applauded the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). MCC was represented on the panel by Darius Teter, Acting VP for Compact Development. He noted that the MCC has issued $7.3 billion in grants, over 70% of which ($5 billion) is in Africa.
Bernadette Paolo, President of The Africa Society, one of America’s leading NGOs building awareness about the region, played a prominent role in moderating and guiding this important discussion, which was attended by over 300 civic, business and policy leaders from both the US and Africa.
Whitaker’s presentation at the Brain Trust on Africa was a follow-up to her appearance earlier this week at Constituency For Africa’s (CFA) Jack F. Kemp African Trade and Investment Roundtable.
Speaking on behalf of the AGOA Action Committee – a non-profit advocacy group which Whitaker co-chaired with the late Congressman Jack Kemp – Whitaker recommended several specific reforms to AGOA, including protecting AGOA’s benefits from trade preference erosion. She called for strong measures to increase US investment in Africa, including passage of tax incentives for US investment in Africa, extending AGOA, and expanding US support for trade finance and trade capacity building. Congressman Bobby Rush, founder and co-chair of the African Partnership for Economic Growth Caucus, addressed the Caucus’s mission to develop US policies to promote growth and economic development in the region.
Representing the business community at the roundtable, Greg Lebedev, a Senior Advisor to the President of the US Chamber of Commerce and the Chairman of the Center for International Private Enterprise, highlighted the growing US business interest in investment opportunities in Africa and enterprise solutions for advancing economic growth. The US Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business organization, representing more than three million companies, recently launched an initiative to introduce more US companies to investment and commercial opportunities in Africa.
