Egypt has been honored when International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, an Egyptian, won the Nobel Prize for Peace, the official MENA news agency reported Friday.

A presidential statement hailed ElBaradei as "a son of Egypt and one of its most outstanding experts in disarmament issues."

The Nobel committee decision was a further proof of the sound performance of the international nuclear watchdog in countering nuclear proliferation, according to the statement.

The prize brought to four the number of Egyptians who won this world prestigious prize, after late President Anwar Sadat, writer Naguib Mahfouz and physicist Ahmed Zeweil.

ElBaradei was born in Cairo, Egypt, on June 17, 1942, son of late Mostafa ElBaradei, a lawyer and former president of the Egyptian Bar Association.

He gained a Bachelor's degree in law in 1962 at Cairo University, and a Doctorate in the international law at New York University School of Law in 1974. He is also recipient of various honorary degrees.

He began his career in the Egyptian diplomatic service in 1964, serving on two occasions in Egypt's permanent missions to the United Nations in New York and Geneva, in charge of political, legal and arms control issues.

From 1974 to 1978, he was a special assistant to the foreign minister of Egypt. In 1980, he left the diplomatic service and became a senior fellow in charge of the International Law Program at the UN Institute for Training and Research. From 1981 to 1987, he was an adjunct professor of international law at New York University School of Law.

ElBaradei is director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an inter-governmental organization within the UN system. He was appointed to office effective as of Dec. 1, 1997, and reappointed to a second term in September 2001. This year, ElBaradei won a third term as chief of the Vienna-based IAEA.

During his presidency of the international nuclear watchdog, the issue of nuclear non-proliferation ranked high on the agenda of the international community with a number of cases including Iraq, Libya, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Iran.

He was known for his preference of peaceful means to disarm countries with nuclear ambitions.

He had several times crossed swords with international powers, topped by the United States over Iraq and now over Iran.

Having been several times to Iran, with a previous record of strenuous efforts in DPRK and Iraq, ElBaradei gained a world fame that paved the way for his win of the prestigious prize.

Source: Xinhua