US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez on Sunday, insisting that security in Iraq has improved, urged businesspeople to look at potential opportunities to invest in the war-ravaged country.
"What we see today is that the security situation has improved, it has improved to such a way where we believe companies should be taking a look at potential opportunities," Gutierrez told reporters in Amman.
"With security improving, businesses are growing and jobs are created, giving people hope and a different view of the future. So having more security attracts more investments." Gutierrez is in Jordan to take part in the US-Middle East and North Africa Trade and Investment Conference which opens on Monday on the shores of the Dead Sea.
"If Iraq grows that could be very positive for Jordan and the whole area," he said, a week after Iraqi Finance Minister Bayan Jabr Solagh urged Jordanian businessmen to invest in what he called his country's "booming economy" during talks with King Abdullah II.
Iraq is struggling with recovery after a US-led invasion nearly five years ago to topple Saddam Hussein because of his alleged arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. None has ever been found.