France, Nov. 21 -- The theme of South Africa's G20 leadership was "Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability", with a pledge to focus on supporting developing countries through debt relief, and financing measures to help them cope with disasters caused by climate change.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February branded the agenda "anti-American" and snubbed the G20 meeting that month, setting the tone for a complicatedyear for South Africa's presidency.

Trump has said that no US officials will attend this weekend's summit, over widely discredited claims that white people are being persecuted in South Africa.

Ramaphosa told reporters ahead of the 22-23 November event that the US's absence is "their loss".

Pretoria has made d...