Krzysztof Rybiński: How to use globalization to improve Poles’ living standards? Address by Mr Krzysztof Rybiński, Deputy President of the National Bank of Poland, at the panel session: Globalization and Poland’s development, 4th Congress of the Polish Lisbon Strategy Forum, Warsaw, 13 October 2006. *  *  *  Ladies and Gentlemen, In my today's speech, I should like to achieve two goals: •  First of all, I would like to outline major economic changes effected by globalization. 1  •  Second, I would like to point out to such areas in Poland's economic strategy that call for profound changes necessary if we want to reap the benefits of globalization while avoiding its pitfalls. At the same time, I would like to emphasize, as I usually do, that the opinions presented in this speech reflect my personal views and by no means are an official stance taken by any institution I used to be or I am presently professionally involved with. * (1)  *  *  What major changes in the global economy and in national economies have been induced by globalization? Globalization may be defined in various ways, and I believe that its essence is best captured when we define it as free movement of goods, services, labour, capital and knowledge between countries. Before I proceed with the presentation of the most important effects of globalization, it is well worth recalling the demographic trends that are going to strongly influence the global economy.
10  Capgemini Survey entitled Online Availability of Public Services: How Is Europe Progressing? Web Based Survey on Electronic Public Services. Report of the 6th Measurement, June 2006. 11  www.iN2015.sg  BIS Review 97/2006  3  countries. Many people who left Poland will achieve success, and set up prosperous companies. Some of these companies may become global challengers. Simultaneously, Poland has gained a million ambassadors abroad. For the time being, we are only lamenting. Have we yet done anything to use this huge Polish intellectual potential located in other countries in order to pursue joint efforts aimed at improving the standard of living for Poles, both at home and abroad. Have we got a vision that would for example indicate mechanisms for creating a diaspora with millions of Poles in the EU or across the globe, a diaspora that could effectively care for Poles’ and Poland’s interest? Actual examples of these include the Chinese and Mexican diaspora in the US, the Jewish diaspora across countries, the Portuguese diaspora in France or Global Scott Network, and many other. In the global economy, greater progress is made thanks to increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICT), also in public services. Firstly, it allows to leave unilateral communication channels for interactive two-way communication, which in turn enables citizens and entrepreneurs to be more active, and allows to offer public services better tailored to the needs of individuals and businesses.