More than 20 delegations attended the UN-sponsored talks, including representatives from the World Bank, the European Union, the United States, Italy and Afghanistan.

The parleys began at 1300 GMT at the building housing the Italian foreign ministry. Karzai was due later Monday to hold talks with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

Karzai and Ban are due to address the conference on Tuesday.

Afghanistan's judicial system is in tatters after almost three decades of war and conflict.

Nearly six years after the fall of the extremist Taliban government, it is corrupt, overburdened and under-resourced, and internationally backed efforts to reform the sector have dragged.

"The conference aims at reaffirming commitments of the Afghan government and the international community in accelerating the judicial reform process and the rule of law, which are basic pillars for the reconstruction of Afghanistan," an Afghan statement said.

Karzai was handpicked by the West to lead the country after the ouster of the Taliban in a US-led crackdown in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington.

The Indian-educated ethnic Pashtun had pledged to usher in a radically reformist path but his detractors accuse him of failing to rein in drug production, war, lawlessness and corruption.