In history, Saint Petersburg is known as Russia's major trade gateway. Today, connectivity, once again, serves as a must for any economy to thrive. Russia seems to understand that well and the enormous efforts made for the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is a reflection of that. So is it their efforts to build a Eurasian Economic Community and their work to involve China every step of the way an important factor in their partnership?

Senior CGTN correspondent Tian Wei caught up with Li Baodong, Secretary General of the Boao Forum for Asia. He is also former Chinese ambassador to the United Nations and has long been responsible for multilateral work in the Chinese foreign ministry.

Talking about the roles of the platforms such as St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Boao Forum for Asia and the World Economic Forum in Davos, Li said, "Each different forum has a different focus, different perspective, and different audiences." But he added, "There are common goals, there are similarities, all these forums walk toward the same goal, that is to provide a platform for people to exchange their views, to provoke idea, to build consensus, to have a sort of way to influence policy makers." 

In the eyes of Secretary General Li, it's extremely important for these forums to get together and to strengthen their own ties with different people. But he is also worried about the current state of affairs; the country that joined in the establishment of the current international system is "walking away" because of so-called "national interests."

Speaking of solutions, Mr. Li said that China and Russia should really work together. He looks forward to both countries talking about solutions for certain issues in this year's St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. "There are many ways both countries can work together to make contributions for peace and stability. Both countries they are the permanent members of the UN Security Council, so they work very hard to safeguard the role and authority of UN, and also to uphold UN chapter."

The heads of Russia and China will meet and interact with each other in early June. They will certainly have in-depth communication on these important issues.