Oslo, Norway ? Former President Jimmy Carter, in Oslo to collect his Nobel Peace Prize, said Monday that his support of President Bush was solid, provided he keeps working through the United Nations and weapons inspectors for a solution in Iraq.

The former president will accept his Nobel diploma and medal, and give a traditional lecture, at a gala ceremony today in the Oslo City Hall. The prize also includes a $1 million cash award.

Carter said at a news conference he supported the stance of President Bush so long as he continues to work for a solution on Iraq through the United Nations.

Carter is being honored “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”

Carter, a Democrat who said he gets along well with the Republican president, urged Bush to support the efforts of international inspectors now searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

He also urged Iraq to comply with U.N. demands.

“If Iraq does comply completely with the mandate of the United Nations Security Council … I see no need for a conflict,” Carter said at the Norwegian Nobel Institute. “Otherwise, I think it is quite likely there will be an armed conflict.”

Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter signs the guest book in the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, as his wife, Rosalyn, looks on. Carter, 78, will be honored today for his decades of peace efforts throughout the world, especially his mediation of the 1978 Camp David peace accord between Israel and Egypt.

Carter, president from 1977 to 1981, was selected for this year’s prize for his efforts to promote peace during more than two decades, including the 1978 Camp David Agreement for which he narrowly missed winning the prize because he wasn’t nominated in time.

“I consider that the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to me primarily because of the last 20 years of effort by the Carter Center,” he said, referring to the Atlanta-based center he founded in 1982 that is active in issues involving peace, human rights and health projects in 65 countries.

Carter said he was disappointed in the presidents after him – Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton :quot; for not capitalizing on the Camp David accords he brokered between Israel and Egypt.

The agreement won Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978.