Amman - The US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) opened an international conference in Jordan Tuesday to facilitate increased US private sector investments in the Middle East, the US embassy said in a statement.

The three-day meeting is being attended by 250 participants from 23 countries, representing US and regional businesses, leading financial institutions and international organizations.

"Conditions are ripe for a new level of US private sector investment in the broader Middle East," OPIC president and chief executive Robert Mosbacher Jr said in an opening address.

"Private sector investment and expertise can usher in a more dynamic era of growth, and one that offers a number of advantages compared to most of the world," he added.

Quoting a November report by Abraaj Capital, an investment firm specializing in the region, Mosbacher said that total infrastructure investment required for the region over the coming decade exceeded 630 billion dollars.

"Regional governments are increasingly looking to the private sector to fill the funding gap and so are reforming investment laws and undertaking privatization programmes," he said.

The conference focuses on Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, West Bank and Gaza and Yemen, the US embassy said. (dpa)