The Norwegian Nobel Committee today announced that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

The Committee attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons, and noted that as President, Obama 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. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened".

The Committee's announcement praised Obama's efforts in strengthening international diplomacy and cooperation between nations. "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. His diplomacy is founded in 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."

Two other sitting U.S. presidents - Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson - have won the peace prize. Former President Jimmy Carter won in 2002, two decades after leaving office.

President Roosevelt won in 1906 for his work in mediating an end to the Russo-Japanese War. President Wilson won the award in 1919 for his efforts in creating the League of Nations, the forerunner of the United Nations.

Former President Carter was honored with the prize for his work in mediating conflicts and promoting democracy on the international stage.

In 2007, former Vice President Al Gore shared the prize with the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for his work on climate change.

President Obama is also the third African-American to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Ralph Bunche, a high-ranking U.N. official, won the 1950 prize for mediating a peace accord between Israel and the Arab states. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. won in 1964 for his work in the U.S. civil rights movement.