Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre criticises the US's absence from the G20 Leaders' Summit, calling its explanation for missing it 'unacceptable'. He highlights global inequality, technological advancement challenges, and Norway's commitment to equality and cooperation in international affairs.

The US's explanation for missing the G20 Leaders' Summit in Johannesburg this past weekend "is in my view unacceptable and unfounded", said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

He was speaking to Daily Maverick after attending the summit hosted by President Ramaphosa, which adopted a Leaders' Declaration covering a vast range of global issues, including development priorities.

Støre was referring to US President Donald Trump's statement two weeks ago that no US government official would attend the summit because white Afrikaners were being "killed and slaughtered" and their farms "illegally confiscated".

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Støre was a guest of Ramaphosa at the summit, and Norway participated in the entire G20 process, attending all of the meetings of ministers and officials throughout the year in the lead-up to the summit.

"I would like to really salute President Ramaphosa for having carried through this G20 presidency in a year of major pressure on the international framework -- commercial, financial, political, diplomatic," said Støre.

"And the fact that we are G20 countries here -- with one absence -- but still, the 19 plus partner countries like Norway having reached common understanding on these principles, that is good. And I think there is a will around that...