L'AQUILA, July 9 (RIA Novosti) - The G8 has not yet become obsolete as a forum for the leaders of the world's most industrialized economies, Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko said on Thursday.

Prikhodko is accompanying Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during the three-day summit in central Italy's L'Aquila.

"It is too early to bury the G8, we should persevere with a collective analysis," the Kremlin aide said.

He said the G8 format was best suited for "discussing a large number of issues."

Prikhodko dismissed fears raised by a number of analysts that the G8 summit would be overshadowed by the Pittsburgh forum and described the discussions in L'Aquila as "serious and productive."

U.S. President Barack Obama chose the Pittsburgh region, Pennsylvania as the location for the September 24-25 summit of G20 leaders.

Prikhodko also praised the efforts of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as summit host.

Italy's decision to move the summit to L'Aquila, where almost 300 people were killed in a powerful quake in early April, to boost local reconstruction, has come under widespread criticism, for the poor preparation.