Secretary of State John Kerry gave remarks on the US-Middle East relationship Monday and argued that despite America's growing energy independence the US still needs to have a close relationship in the region.
"Yes, we now are less reliant on Middle East petroleum," said Kerry at the Transformational Trends Strategic Forum. "But as we long ago discovered, the energy market is global, and any serious disruption to the Gulf oil supplies can have major consequences for our own well-being as well as the global economy to which we are all attached today." Kerry noted the importance of maintaining allies in the region.
"We are proudly and unapologetically connected to Israel and many Arab states with whom we have worked closely for decades. These relationships actually make us safer by enabling us to respond earlier and more capably to such security risks as terrorism, aggression, proliferation and organized crime," he said.
The Secretary asserted, "We have faith in the future of the Middle East because we trust in the resilience of the human spirit, which, along with the love of justice and freedom, has sustained our own land since before there was an America. And so, together with our friends, together with our partners, in contrast to the terrorists, the nihilists who aim to destroy, we remain builders, resolved to create for future generations a better world."