Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 19, 1993 TAG: 9309190061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG SCHNEIDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
And while that means our region's leaders are now going to be headed by a guy from Georgia named Zell, don't despair. They won't soon forget the wily Virginian. This week, Wilder is marking the end of his term by playing host to an international soiree on the lawn of the State Capitol.
His fellow governors will mix with the leaders of at least a dozen African nations, making Wilder's finale not only an important-sounding trade summit but also the kind of eye-grabbing event that Virginia's chief executive relishes.
Last year, the association convened in Charleston, S.C., for a more routine series of seminars and conferences. Only six of the 19 member governors attended.
This year, with all the hoopla, at least 14 are coming.
The summit concept is not unprecedented. The governors' association held a similar event last year at the University of Virginia with the leaders of Latin American nations. But this one, apparently, is Wilder's baby.
"Oh, it was completely his idea. That shouldn't even surprise you," said Wilder press secretary Glenn Davidson.
It shouldn't surprise, not only because Wilder has a fondness for grand gestures, but because he has gone to unprecedented lengths to connect with Africa.
He took trade delegations there in each of the past two years, becoming the first U.S. governor to make such trips to the sub-Sahara. He plans to open a Virginia trade office on the continent before the end of his term in January.
The odd thing about that, of course, is that Africa has little to offer in the way of immediate payoff. Last year, Virginia exported $4.5 billion worth of goods to Western Europe, $2 billion to East Asia and $800 million to Latin America. With Africa, the state's business totaled a relatively minor $328 million.
African markets have far to go to catch up with those of other industrialized trading partners. So why is Wilder bringing the presidents of Botswana, The Gambia, Niger, Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique and leaders from a dozen other countries to Richmond?
You could say he's trying to shine up his foreign policy credentials to challenge Charles Robb for the Senate next year. You could say he's using the Southern governors to justify his travels over the past two years.
But Wilder insists he is paving the way for the inevitable course of the future, getting the jump into lucrative markets before they get crowded.
A wise move?
"Industrial markets have been pretty stagnant, and most of the increase in U.S. exports or most of the big moves in U.S. exports over the past year have been to developing countries, because of their demands for capital goods," said Pietro Nivola, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C.
Though he knows little about African markets specifically - "I don't know anybody who does," he said - Nivola pointed out that trade helps any developing nation progress faster. Then you can make more money from them.
So on they will come. The foreign dignitaries were to begin arriving at Richmond International Airport last night and will continue through tonight.
They will be greeted by a red carpet, bands, schoolchildren and state officials bearing flowers. They will eat tonight under tents on the Capitol lawn in a reception for 1,000. (No pork or shellfish on the menu, because of dietary customs).
Governors from Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia will schmooze for the next couple of days with the Africans.
In the midst of it all, Wilder will mingle and beam with courtly glee, squeezing every ounce out of his final hours as SGA chairman.
And just think: Next year, he has to give up the governor's office. Who knows what flourish he'll think of then?
by CNB