Japan-Iraq relations can and should place greater focus on economic cooperation instead of security, visiting Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Friday, calling for more investment from Japanese firms to help reconstruct his war-torn nation.

"Iraq-Japan relations have entered a new era," Zebari said in a speech in Tokyo. "The nature of the relations has changed (in the past few years) from military, security and logistics to more business-oriented, economic-oriented areas."

He made the remarks during a keynote speech in a symposium in Tokyo to commemorate the 70th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations.