; (9) the United States should work to foster dialogue among countries within the Black Sea region to improve communication and intelligence sharing and increase cyber defense capabilities; (10) countries with historic and economic ties to Russia are looking to the United States and Europe to provide a positive economic presence in the broader region as a counterbalance to the Russian Federation’s malign influence in the region; (11) it is in the interest of the United States to support and bolster the economic ties between the United States and Black Sea states; (12) the United States should support the initiative undertaken by central and eastern European states to advance the Three Seas Initiative Fund to strengthen transport, energy, and digital infrastructure connectivity in the region between the Adriatic Sea, Baltic Sea, and Black Sea; (13) there are mutually beneficial opportunities for increased investment and economic expansion, particularly on energy and transport infrastructure initiatives, between the United States and Black Sea states and the broader region; (14) improved economic ties between the United States and the Black Sea states and the broader region can lead to a strengthened strategic partnership; (15) the United States must seek to address the food security challenges arising from disruption of Ukraine’s Black Sea and Azov Sea ports, as this global challenge will have critical national security implications for the United States, our partners, and allies; (16) Turkey, in coordination with the United Nations, has played an important role in alleviating global food insecurity by negotiating two agreements to allow grain exports from Ukrainian ports through a safe corridor in the Black Sea; (17) Russia has a brutal history of using hunger as a weapon and must be stopped