CHICAGO: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has chosen veteran Delaware Senator Joseph Biden, a leading voice on international affairs, as his running mate, his campaign said yesterday.

Biden, 65, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is one of the most knowledgeable Democratic experts on foreign policy - an area where Obama, a first-term Senator from Illinois, has been criticized as inexperienced.

Ending days of speculation, Obama announced the decision on his website, featuring a photo of the two.