WTO chief Pascal Lamy criticised South Africa on Friday for negotiating one-on-one deals with trade partners that he suggested were more important to Pretoria than a global agreement.
The director general of the World Trade Organisation noted that Brazil was leading the push within the G-20 group of developing countries for a trade deal on agriculture, India on services, China on industry while Australia and New Zealand were teaming up to fight for a deal on fish subsidies.
"Others are doing the running for South Africa," Lamy told a meeting of a labour council.
South Africa, Africa's biggest economy, is negotiating trade agreements with India and China, among others.
"This shouldn't be done to the detriment of the symbolic importance of multilateral trade for South Africa," said Lamy, adding that he would make that point in talks with President Thabo Mbeki.
"If this country embarks on many, many bilateral trade deals, most of your resources will be absorbed by these bilateral treaties and less energy will be available for multilateral rounds," said Lamy.
"South Africa has a big stake in this multilateral organisation. This is the place where its leverage, its weight, its relative size, its leadership capacities have a big impact," he said.
Lamy was to hold talks in Pretoria before joining Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and other leaders taking part in a Progressive Governance Summit outside Pretoria on Saturday.Agence France Presse
