International diplomats and security delegations gathered in Iraq Wednesday for the country's first international counter-terrorism conference in the capital Baghdad.

The two-day meeting will tackle various topics set by Iraqi and international researchers, including international cooperation to fight terrorism and media censorship.

The meeting will also study and discuss how to deal with the extremist ideology that fuels violence.

According to the state-run al-Sabah newspaper, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is scheduled to deliver a speech in the opening session of the conference, in which he will review the sufferings of the Iraqi people by the terrorism since 2003, and his security forces' efforts in fighting al-Qaida organization, in addition to the need to punish states and other parties that are funding the terrorism.

Earlier, the spokesman of the conference Lieutenant General Qasim Atta told reporters that Iraq had sent invitations to countries and world organizations, including the United Nations, the Arab League, the European Union, the African Union, the Organization of Islamic Conference, as well as the Interpol and the permanent member states of the UN Security Council.

He added that he expected officials will sign cooperation agreements during the meetings.

Iraq has been plagued with violence for years. However, 2013 was the bloodiest year since the sectarian violence began to decrease in 2008.

A total of 8,868 Iraqis, including 7,818 civilians and police personnel, were killed in 2013. The Iraqi government has frequently warned and complained of the spillover of violence from the crisis in neighboring Syria.