Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted leaders of top emerging economies for a mini summit ahead of the G20 on Thursday, in a demonstration of their importance despite worries about developing economies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted leaders of top emerging economies for a mini summit ahead of the G20 on Thursday, in a demonstration of their importance despite worries about developing economies.

The BRICS group of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa were for years seen as the new hungry tigers of the global economy.

But each of the states is going into the G20 meeting outside Saint Petersburg with a degree of economic trouble.

The currencies of Brazil and India have been under serious pressure due to expectations that the US Fed will taper its stimulus program while growth has been slowing even China's powerhouse economy.

Putin told President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India and Chinese President Xi Jinping that such meetings were a "good habit" ahead of major global summits.

"We will discuss our common approaches at the G20 summit," Putin said. "I am sure that we will have positive talks."

Putin said that a priority for the BRICS states was discussing ambitious projects to create a development bank with a capital of $50 billion (38 billion Euros) and a reserve fund with a capital of $100 billion.

Symbolically, Putin's first bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 earlier was with President Xi of China, which has stood shoulder to shoulder with Moscow in its opposition to Western policy on Syria.

In guarded comments typical of the Russia-China relationship, both men praised the state of ties but gave little away. "Relations between our countries are developing consistently," said Putin.

However Russia's Gazprom and China's state energy firm signed an agreement on the "fundamental conditions" of a long-discussed mega gas deal for Russia to pump 38 billion cubic meters of gas annually to China from 2018.