So far, Romanian and Lebanese investors have signed revenue-sharing deals with Iraqi state-owned cement factories. Each company will invest about $150 million each.
Germany's Daimler, which produces Mercedes cars and trucks, recently announced it was establishing an office in Iraq.
China has also aggressively pursued the Iraqi market, selling machinery to the government and electronic products to consumers.
Some U.S. and Iraqi officials say American companies risk losing an early opportunity to establish long-term strategic ties with Iraq.
There are no reliable historic numbers, but the deals this year are among the first major investment opportunities outside U.S.-funded reconstruction projects and they signal new confidence in Iraq's economy. "We're seeing a huge upsurge," Brinkley said.
Foreign investment is good for Iraq, and the interest of non-U.S. companies is not a cause for concern, said Charles Reis, the U.S. counselor for economic transition in Iraq. "This is a normalization of Iraq's relationship with the rest of the world," he said.
Large U.S. companies won the bulk of the $20 billion worth of reconstruction contracts funded by the military. Now, however, opportunities are riskier and require more local understanding.
That has favored non-U.S. investors who have had pre-war experience in Iraq, said Timothy Mills, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Iraq.
American companies may also be reluctant to invest in Iraq because the war has generated so much controversy at home, Brinkley said.
Americans may also end up lagging in trade. China doubled the number of exports to Iraq this year, selling about $358 million worth of goods in the first four months of this year. China is now Iraq's third largest trade partner behind the United States and Turkey, according to Global Trade Information Services, a firm that tracks trade statistics.
