Trump thanks Scandinavian MPs on phone to nominate him for Nobel

OSLO: United States President Donald Trump telephoned two Scandinavian MPs to thank them for nominating him for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, the two lawmakers said Tuesday.

"I was on my way to the stable with my daughter, when President @realDonaldTrump called and thanked me for the nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize," Magnus Jacobsson, a Swedish member of parliament for the Christian Democrats, wrote on Twitter.

"We had a good conversation about peace in the Middle East and the Balkans. I wish the President good luck with the peace processes," he added, posting a photo of a smiling Trump sitting at his desk on the phone.

Norwegian MP Christian Tybring-Gjedde, of the right-wing populist anti-immigration Progress Party, meanwhile told AFP he had also received a call from Trump on Monday.

"It was just to thank me for the nomination," he said, refusing to disclose details of their conversation.

"I was surprised. It was really good of him to do that, I don't think everyone does that. He's very nice," he added.

Tybring-Gjedde and Jacobsson announced in early September that they had each put forward Trump's name for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.

Tybring-Gjedde cited the president's role in the deal normalising relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Jacobsson hailed his mediation efforts between Serbia and Kosovo, whose ties have remained strained more than 20 years after the war in the Balkans.

Trump has on several occasions celebrated the nominations, appearing to make it an election issue just weeks ahead of the November 3 vote.

However, most Nobel experts do not believe Trump has much chance of taking home the prize.

And the Nobel Institute has stressed that a nomination is in no way an indication of support as thousands of people around the world are eligible to nominate candidates, including members of the world's parliaments, former laureates, and some university professors.