Amid increasing security concerns in the Middle East, experts say Baghdad's maiden regional conference was an opportunity to reinvigorate prospects of stability in a region long tainted by proxy wars and power competition.

It was also seen as an attempt by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi to change his country's international image and restore Iraq's political place and prestige in the region, which he said it lost following the United States-led invasion of 2003. The conference comes ahead of Iraq's elections in October.

Iraq hosted the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership on Saturday, mostly attended by Arab leaders and co-organizer France, aimed at pacifying tensions in the Middle East.

Among the attendees were Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Jordan's King Abdullah II, and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Months before the conference, Iran and Saudi Arabia had resumed talks but achieved no breakthrough. In June, Baghdad hosted a tripartite summit for Iraq, Egypt and Jordan.

Arhama Siddiqa, a research fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad in Pakistan, said the security situation in the Middle East is "decimating at a very fast pace", citing Lebanon's economic collapse and Yemen's humanitarian crisis, which appears to be overshadowed by fighting in its Marib region.

"In Iraq, as with almost everywhere in the world, there is rampant corruption. It has been a playpen for both regional and international powers," said Siddiqa in an interview with China Daily.

"Now, Iraq seems to have become a center of pro-stabilization and mediation among the rival regional actors in what I view as an attempt by Prime Minister Khadmi to change his country's international image."

Despite the terror threats that have heightened owing to the pullout of US troops in Afghanistan, Siddiqa said she does not believe it will affect Iraq's aspirations to become a regional mediator.

She said Iraq could contribute to the ongoing Yemen crisis after the United Arab Emirates withdrew troops there last year. Saudi Arabia wants a way out in the "cold war "with Iran as it is costing it much more, she added.

Manjari Singh, associate fellow at think tank Centre for Land Warfare Studies in New Delhi, said given that fear looms large in Iraq following the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan this month and the recent airport attacks in Kabul, such probable threats make it obvious for Iraq to discuss regional political issues more than nontraditional security.

"So because of the future threats that loom large, Iraq's role in the region and its importance to other regional actors is a better topic of discussion for Iraq than any other topic," Singh said.

Sujata Ashwarya, associate professor at the Centre for West Asian Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia University in India, said regional and global powers are eager to prevent terrorist groups from regrouping themselves.

"The Baghdad conference appears to be an attempt to nudge Iraqi elites toward internal reforms, while remaining vigilant to the possibility of terrorism resurfacing in their midst," she said.