US President Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples and giving hope for a better world."
He is the fourth U.S. president to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. The others are: Jimmy Carter, as ex-president, Woodrow Wilson, and Theodore Roosevelt.
The world's most prestigious award in recognition of contributions to global peace was announced Friday by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Norway's capital, Oslo.
In a statement, the Committee said "only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future."
The Committee endorsed Obama's appeal that "now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.
"His diplomacy is founded on the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population," it added.
The statement also noted that Obama, as President, has created a new climate in international politics. "Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. "
It recognized Obama's initiative, under which, the US is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. It also stressed the role he is playing in strengthening democracy and human rights.
Asked why the prize had been awarded to Obama less than a year after he took office, Nobel Committee head Thorbjoern Jagland said: "It was because we would like to support what he is trying to achieve."
"It is a clear signal that we want to advocate the same as he has done," he added.
He specifically mentioned Obama's work to strengthen international institutions, to use established international bodies such as the United Nations to pursue his goals and work towards a world free of nuclear weapons.
The prize "is a clear signal to the world that we want to advocate the same as he has done to promote international diplomacy," Jagland said. The Committee did not single out Obama's status as the first African-American to become U.S. president.
Jagland told reporters that Obama had not been notified of the award in advance of the announcement.
There was no immediate comment from the White House.
The award which carries a prize-money of 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.41 million), a gold medal and a diploma, will be presented to him at a ceremony to be held in the Oslo City Hall on December 10, the death anniversary of its founder Alfred Nobel.
The 48-year-old Democratic leader was chosen from among a record 205 nominations. It included 33 organizations and individuals; Zimbabwe's prime minister and a Chinese dissident had been among the favorites.
The judging committee apparently gave more weight to Obama's efforts within months of succeeding George W Bush as US president to reach out to the Muslim world and to eliminate nuclear weapons around the globe.
Jagland specifically cited Obama's speech about Islam in Cairo last spring. Delivering a keynote address at the Cairo University, he called for a new beginning in U.S. relations with the world's 1.5 billion Muslims, and for an end to a cycle of "suspicion and discord."
While he shifted Washington's focus on the war on terrorism from Iraq to Afghanistan, Obama was successful in easing tensions with many countries that had cold relations with the U.S.
Although it seems premature when he hasn't been in office even a year and has not yet actually achieved the goals he set out, analysts say the Nobel Committee wants this prize to add momentum to Obama's ambitious hopes for a peace deal in the Middle East and a nuclear-free world.
Obama's call for a nuclear-free world during his address to the recent UN General Assembly was noteworthy when compared to efforts by any other world leader on this crucial issue.
In a historic speech in July in Moscow highlighting a message of economic and political liberalism, Obama called on Russians to open up for a new era of U.S.-Russia relations, so that the governments of both the countries can work together to tackle international issues including terrorism and nuclear proliferation.
This year's Nobel prize for medicine, literature, chemistry, and physics were announced earlier this week. The winner of the economics prize will be known Monday.
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