Japan intends to step up its efforts to promote peace and stability in Southeast Europe in an effort to become a leader in the field of conflict prevention as the chair of July's Group of Eight summit in Okinawa, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said Monday.

In an opening address to the High Level Conference on South-Eastern Europe, a two-day gathering that began Monday in Tokyo, Kono unveiled Japan's three-step plan to promote stability and development in the region.

The plan first targets achieving a "transition to a political culture of harmony" among various ethnic groups, Kono said.

Kono also underlined the importance of "restoring human dignity," in light of the so-called ethnic cleansing allegedly carried out during the Kosovo crisis last year.

To create the basis for democracy, Kono then talked of the goal of achieving a "transition to market-oriented structures" for economies in Southeast Europe.

Kono said the two-day conference, as well as various followup joint projects Japan intends to launch in collaboration with related international bodies, will contribute to sustainable development in the region.

Such joint projects are expected to cover education, environmental protection and the preservation of cultural assets, Kono said.

More than 70 experts on conflict prevention, economists and government officials from Balkan states participated in the conference to seek ways to stabilize the region's political, economic and social situation following the Kosovo crisis.

Japan wants to take this opportunity to take a leading role in the field of conflict prevention as such issues are likely to be among those discussed in Okinawa and at the G8 foreign ministers' meeting in Miyazaki.

So far, Japan has pledged $237 million in economic assistance for Kosovo and countries surrounding the ethnic Albanian enclave to help rebuild the devastated region.