Chinese and German experts on human rights gathered in Beijing on November 16 to discuss matters of mutual concern.

During the two-day gathering, organized by the China Foundation for Human Rights Development and Germany's Ebert Foundation, participants will exchange views on Chinese and Western cultures and the development of human rights in China and overseas.

Huang Hua, former Chinese vice-premier and foreign minister, said at today's opening ceremony that China's human rights situation has changed fundamentally since the founding of the People's Republic of China five decades ago, especially since the reform and opening up in the late 1970s.

Huang, also honorary chairman of the China Foundation for Human Rights Development, said that subsistence and development are the core issues of human rights, and ensuring the rights for subsistence and development of 1.2 billion people is China's important contribution to global human rights issues.

Herbert Jess, minister of German embassy in Beijing, praised China's achievements in promoting economic and social development over the past two decades.