The Expo-2010 international exhibition in Shanghai is the “world championship” of cutting edge technology, Russia’s Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Stanislav Naumov said on Monday.

Naumov was speaking during a video linkup between a youth forum at Lake Seliger in Russia’s western Tver region and Shanghai.

“The exhibition in Shanghai is the world technology championship and Russia demonstrates its new pilot projects in nuclear energy, medical science, space explorations and other fields there, but what I’ve seen here in Seliger shows that Russia has a serious scientific potential in innovation technologies,” Naumov said.

The Seliger-2010 forum brought together some 20,000 young people from Russia and 80-odd other countries.

The annual forum, which is seen by many as a modern version of Soviet-era youth camps, has been held since 2005. It initially hosted only activists of the pro-Kremlin Nashi (Ours) youth movement, a pet project of then-President Vladimir Putin. This year's discussions at Lake Seliger were promoted as an international forum.

The 2010 World Expo is being held in Shanghai from May 1 to October 31, 2010. Up to 70 million people are expected to visit the city for the event, which has seen investment of up to $4 billion.

SHANGHAI, July 17 (RIA Novosti)