In Saint Petersburg, Russia, two major events have concluded this weekend. First, Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit came to an end and second, the 23rd Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum wrapped up. President Xi addressed the forum and shared China's views about the world today and tomorrow. Our correspondent Aljosa Milenkovic has this report from the Russian city.

It was the highest profile visit by Xi Jinping to Russia ever. It was packed with high profile meetings, $20 billion worth agreements reached and signed. But it wasn't all work, work, work. Two pandas temporarily moved to Moscow Zoo stole the hearts of both leaders during their visit. And not only hearts of the presidents, but also of the thousands that came to see these two furry goodwill ambassadors. There was also some sightseeing through Saint Petersburg, when Vladimir Putin showed his birth town to the Chinese guest. But the media spotlight was focused on the Forum's Plenary Session, where the two leaders gave key addresses. And both of them mentioned 5G technology development and pressure on Huawei by the U.S. Something that local analysts had to add word or three.

NIKOLAY ANDREEV, GENERAL DIRECTOR BIG JACK, COMMUNICATION GROUP "The middle class alone in countries like China and India will reach 250 million people. And the West has understood that all of a sudden they've started lagging behind. And now the Trump administration is trying to do everything to catch up. From my perspective what is happening now with 5G is all for political reasons."

Russia is also facing years-long pressure from the West in the form of sanctions, a fact that was frequently mentioned at the Forum. But regardless of that, business is finding the way to overcome or just avoid sanctions.

VADIM KHROMOV, DEPUTY CHAIRMAN MOSCOW REGIONAL GOVERNMENT "We have lots of meetings with the foreign companies and they all do the business in Russia and growing the business in Russia. And we see that these partnership would be very successful for the future. We have good partners in different countries and in all levels, including political one."

And all these sanctions and trade wars are encouraging Russia and China to come closer together. They didn't hide that, as a result, they do intend to step up and expand their strategic partnership in the years to come, and that was very visible during this visit of President Xi Jinping.

ALJOSA MILENKOVIC ST. PETERSBURG "That expansion will not only occur in usual sectors like energy, transportation and infrastructure, but also in high tech areas such as space exploration, 5G mobile networks and many others. They've extended an invitation for all, but judging by the current state of world affairs, it's hard to imagine that the West will embrace that call. Aljosa Milenkovic, CGTN, Saint Petersburg."