Japan has vowed to play a more active role in promoting international peace and stability, calling for increased cooperation with India in ensuring an order based on democratic values and the rule of law.

"Japan will continue even more actively to contribute to the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific region and the world under the banner of 'Proactive Contribution to Peace,' based on the principle of international cooperation," Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said in New Delhi on Saturday in his first policy speech this year, which marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the World War II.

Citing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's remarks at a New Year's news conference, Kishida said that based on "profound remorse" about the war, Japan has built a democratic state that has consistently upheld human rights and the rule of law over 70 years and has followed the path of a peace-loving nation.