Chile, Brazil and Colombia are the most attractive countries for private infrastructure investment in Latin America, said a report published on Wednesday.

Chile topped the list with 5.43 points, for "an extremely auspicious atmosphere for private investment", according to the Comparative Analysis of Private Infrastructure Investment report.

Brazil followed with 4.4 points, Colombia 4.33, Peru 4.23, Mexico 4.04, Uruguay 4.02, El Salvador 3.97, Argentina 3.41, Venezuela 3.37, Bolivia 3.34 and the Dominican Republic 3.33.

The study, presented at the second World Economic Forum for Latin America, attracted more than 400 business, social and political leaders.

Economist Irene Mia, one of the report's authors, told a press conference that the study came to its conclusion after taking into consideration the macro-economic environment, the legal framework, political risks, access to information and financial market development in each country.

The report divided the nations into four groups: Brazil, Peru, Chile and Colombia were showing good development in all key values.

Mexico and El Salvador were attractive for investment with good financial markets, but had poor civil society-government relationships.

Uruguay and the Dominican Republic had acceptable investment environments but lacked the basic infrastructure which opened the door to more complex private-sector infrastructure.

The final group, including Argentina, Bolivia and Venezuela, had poor investment conditions and needed to adopt extensive reforms.