United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Afghan President Hamid Karzai took part in the international conference of boosting Afghanistan's justice system which was opened in Italian capital Rome on Monday.

The two-day conference on the rule of law in Afghanistan is being hosted by Italy with the aim of developing a coordinated reform strategy for the conflict-torn country.

Representatives of 26 governments and international organizations are attending the summit, which is also expected to announce new donor commitment.

The conference began on Monday afternoon with closed-door, technical discussions on issues ranging from the coordination of justice at a local level and relations between the magistrature and police to human rights issues.

The talks will continue on Tuesday morning when officials will examine issues such as the training of justice personnel, prison reform and how to tackle widespread corruption.

Italy announced at the start of the conference that it would give €10 million  to help rebuild the Afghan justice sector, with most of the money going towards infrastructure and legal training.

(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2007)