Putin says BRICS, not the West, will drive global economic growth

The BRICS group will generate most of the global economic growth in the coming years thanks to its size and relatively fast growth compared with that of developed Western nations, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

Putin hopes to build up BRICS - which has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates as well as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - as a powerful counterweight to the West in global politics and trade.

The Kremlin leader is due to host a BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan on Oct. 22-24.

"The countries in our association are essentially the drivers of global economic growth. In the foreseeable future, BRICS will generate the main increase in global GDP," Putin told officials and businessmen at BRICS business forum in Moscow.

"The economic growth of BRICS members will increasingly depend less on external influence or interference. This is essentially economic sovereignty," Putin added.

Next week's summit is being presented by Moscow as evidence that Western efforts to isolate Russia over its actions in Ukraine have failed.

Russia wants other countries to work with it to overhaul the global financial system and end the dominance of the U.S. dollar.

China, India and the UAE confirmed on Friday that their leaders would attend the summit in Kazan.

Putin said 30 countries around the world had expressed interest in cooperation with the BRICS grouping and that next week's summit would consider possible options for the group's further enlargement.

Cuba plunged into a countrywide blackout after the collapse of one of its major power plants Friday.

"The doors are open, we are not barring anyone," Putin told reporters from BRICS countries .

Putin cited some of