Taken together, these benefits will help create a climate that will ensure freedom of navigation through the Turkish Straits. I read yet another article last night speculating on whether the US will change course after the election on issues like energy investment in Iran. Our support for the corridor has its own separate and distinct rationale. Our policies in this region have strong bipartisan support in Washington. These projects build not only on US interests, but on the interests of the region's governments as well, and they make sense economically.
Gas is another important part of the region's energy development.
The United States strongly supports the efforts of Turkey and Georgia to diversify their natural gas supplies. We support Azerbaijan's initiative to sell them gas, and to sell gas through Turkey to Europe. There is still hope Turkmenistan will join the project, though it's a fading hope. Once completed, the Azeri pipeline will form a key portion of the East-West Corridor. In the meantime, the US is continuing is contributions to a winter heat program for Georgia's poorest citizens.