Washington, DC — Rosa M. Whitaker, Assistant United States Trade Representative for Africa, will be quitting her post next month.
"I've been very honored to serve in both the administration of President Clinton and the administration of President Bush, in the forefront of a new policy towards Africa," Whitaker told AllAfrica when asked to confirm rumors that she was leaving her position. "Everything has a season, and to me, this season, in terms of my service in government, is over."
The office and position were created in March 1998. Previously, Africa was the only region of the world not represented at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, who serves as the chief trade negotiator and senior presidential adviser on trade issues.
Whitaker, who was, at that time, senior trade advisor to Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY), is the first person to have held the job. "I'll always be honored by being the first in this position."
The post took on a larger role with the passage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which was signed by President Clinton on May 18, 2000 to promote American trade and investment on the continent.
Whitaker will be missed at USTR, said Congressman Rangel. "She brings a unique history of engagement with the concept and the process of achieving passage of Agoa. [She] won the trust and regard of members of Congress, the African diplomatic corps and the new administration, so that Agoa represents bipartisan policy and priority."
As she leaves, new legislation known Agoa II, which expands some of the act's preferential treatment for Africa and the Caribbean and makes the formerly excluded nations of Botswana and Namibia eligible for Agoa status, has passed the U.S. Congress. A proclamation "To Implement Modifications to the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act and the African Growth and Opportunity Act," was issued by President Bush Wednesday.
There is "still a lot of work to be done," says Whitaker, but she is comfortable leaving because "there is a trajectory of progress."
Once out of government, Whitaker says, she plans to continue in the area of her work as an assistant trade representative in government. "I intend to create my own institution, totally devoted to promoting trade and investment in Africa." She says she wants to bridge what is still a huge gap between U.S. investors and Africa.
"Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region of the world that is not represented by a strong private sector association in the United States. That is usually where the trade takes place. You have organizations similar to chambers of commerce representing Asia's interests, Latin America's interests; governments typically do not do the actual trade facilitation. So I'm looking at these wonderful policy opportunities and asking myself, 'Who is going to actually work with the investors? Who has the confidence of the investors? Who has been working with the private sector? Who's been working with the countries to build that bridge so that we can have more U.S. investment, more dialogue, more contact, more investment capital flowing into the region?' That is the void. Agoa is an opportunity, but it is not a guarantee."
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Some outside effort is now necessary, Whitaker said, when asked why not stay in government to push her trade and investment goals. "We're fine on the government side. I think that we have some good people in government, and I'm very comfortable with [U.S. Trade Representative] Robert Zoellick's leadership. Where I see countries stuck -- and I tried to do this from government, but think I need to be freer to do it more effectively -- is that they do not know how to access. They have not been able to build sufficiently strong linkages with our private sector to bring in the investment, to bring in our private sector."
Tom Sheehy, staff director for the House Africa Subcommittee, is considered first in line as a possible replacement for Whitaker and is said to be "interested." Stephanie Childs, Senior Adviser in the Commerce Department's Office of the Under Secretary for International Trade has also been proposed for the position, as have several other candidates.
