"Georgia is a critical security partner for the Black Sea. Now, if we look at what' s about to happen, the Central Asian states are looking for trade routes that aren't just China or Russia. They have built a lot of their infrastructure to go through Russia, but now they want to build different infrastructure. This means it flows down across the Caspian, through Azerbaijan, and then goes to Georgia. We hope there will be an arrangement with Armenia and Turkey so that it flows out that way, providing both routes to handle huge volumes. We're looking at the Black Sea then managing even more of the global trade in key, critical minerals, grain, and all kinds of items. We'll do some work again with the EU because this is a foundational partnership. So, we'll have to work with the EU in promoting exactly this. There's a conference next week in Brussels about financing some of these trade opportunities. It's hosted by AIB and EBRD, and we will participate. This is really important, and the Black Sea will end up with LNG connections between Georgia and Romania. It will end up with a number of undersea cables for electricity and communications, and a lot of offshore gas production for Romania, potentially for other countries. So, it's going to become a dense area of economic involvement, even beyond what it was before. We need to make sure that's protected, and we need to ensure that the rules of engagement across that wide range of countries are pretty clear to everyone, including Russia. Then we'll do that with Georgia, Georgia itself. You've got these very important parliamentary elections this year, and we strongly supported the international observer mission. We're going to be working with that mission and, frankly, with the really vibrant civil society in Georgia to ensure that the election goes well because what we know is that more than 85% of citizens of Georgia continually say what they want is reform and entry into the EU. That's where we stand. Now the Georgian Government has really put in an effort at reform measures, particularly over the last months, and we appreciate what they've done. We appreciate what they've done to avoid sanction circumvention by restricting a lot of activity. I think there's room to have a lot of optimism that Georgia will be a key contributor in that environment, knowing that Russia is investing a lot in its own important overseers. It's investing in the area, it's taken over a number of Ukrainian ports, and it's attempting to use them. As you say, it's building its own infrastructure in concert. So this will be something we have to work our way through over the next years, but we'll get through it because there are 10 countries who just want more peace and prosperity from having a secure arrangement in the Black Sea", - said US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, James O'Brien.