Ireland's openness - and vulnerability - to the rest of the world is graphically confirmed by the findings of the latest A.T. Kearney/Foreign Policy globalisation index published yesterday, in which we come out as the most globalised state for the second consecutive year.
Based on exceptionally high levels of international economic integration and personal contact, this performance bears out everyday knowledge - but it remains a surprise that Ireland is globally linked to precisely this extent.
The figures on which the index is based are inevitably a little out of date, but they faithfully register how well Ireland performed compared to other states after the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11th, 2001. It will be interesting to see whether the same picture will emerge in next year's figures, following the national budgetary retrenchments and worldwide economic setbacks of the last six months.
A clear lesson to be learned from these comparisons is that integration can enable governments and companies to respond creatively to such trends. Ireland scored so high because reforms made it easier for multinational investment to come here, its concentration in high technology and information sectors and the continuing strong performance of computer components, electronics and pharmaceutical products in the export profile.
That strategic achievement in higher-value sectors must be continued if employment and growth are to be maintained. The importance of this task is underlined once again in the Industrial Development Authority's latest annual report.
The index shows Ireland has some ground to make up in using the Internet, compared to similar small states at a comparable stage of development. Had national research and development expenditure been included this comparison would not look so good. Recent Government decisions to cut back in this sphere, along with problems of congestion and inflation, could well affect future competitiveness. That would be damaging indeed for an economy as exposed as this to international trends.
Ireland scores highly on indices of personal contact, including travel and tourism both ways, international telephone traffic and cross-border transfers. This would seem to confirm our reputation as a sociable, welcoming society, now much more in touch with the surrounding world, including with the Irish abroad. These are precious assets, worth preserving even as it becomes more difficult to do so.
Ireland's political engagement in the United Nations, the European Union and other international organisations compares well, although the numbers of embassies here and abroad is relatively low. A nation globalised to this extent requires a skilled and active international representation to survive.