A friend in Munich told me last week that every time she watches the news about wanton killings by the terrorists in Pakistan on the television, she prays for me and my family's security. I thanked her and explained that I live in Karachi which is on the Southern tip of Pakistan, and the battle with Taliban is far in the North along the Afghanistan border. (I hope I have not spoken too soon just to defend my country's image).
The general perception about Pakistan in the west is that the whole country is at war. Agreed, that this is partly true, but then it is not the whole story about this country. At the world's largest sports goods trade fair in Munich in the first week of February there were 85 enterprising Pakistani exporters. All of them booked fresh orders, developed new contacts and renewed their relations with their old buyers. Now this I thought is a kind of occasion which the government should exploit to send the message: "In Pakistan its business as usual."
The Indians, who have a much smaller sports goods export, are growing fast and giving our exporters a tough time, came out a good advertisement to back their exhibitors. Their caption was" "Stay airborne until its time to fly high again - India welcomes you at ISPO Winter.' Pakistan did not spend anything on using this opportunity to build the country's image.
When I asked the Commercial Counsellor, Viqar Khilji, who has improved the looks of the Pakistan pavilion, said that he was not given enough funds for advertising any promotional campaign. But the good thing was it was the first time in the last 15 years that I saw Pakistan's Ambassador coming down to meet the exhibitors. Ambassador Shahid Kamal has also appointed a businessman of Munich Dr Pantelis Christian Poetis as Honorary Consul for Bavaria to promote Pakistan. Let's see what good he can bring to Pakistan. My view is that without backup support from the relevant government institutions in Pakistan neither our diplomats nor their honorary consuls can deliver. I am told that the tourism promotion material sent to the embassies is outdated, badly written, designed and published.
Last year some of our friends in Germany asked my wife whether she has to wear Afghanistan-style shuttle-cock Burqa in Pakistan. My wife told them we are not Afghanistan and that wearing a Burqa or a veil is optional in Pakistan like Turkey. Then she sent them copies of 'Women's Own' and 'She' magazines to show the other side of the picture. German ladies thanked her for correcting their perception about Pakistani women.
Whenever I travel abroad and hear such comments I wonder why nobody is bothered to manage perception about Pakistan abroad. Almost all the governments have often lamented that Pakistan's image is pretty bad particularly in the developed countries. But not much has been done to correct this shortcoming. I understand that our governments are usually bogged down with the political, security and economic crises. They are mostly in a fire fighting mode.
But what is over-looked is the fact that managing image of the country should also be part of the overall strategy. Perception management is neglected by each government because they usually have no comprehensive strategy, which should be covering all the issues. So, the first victim of neglect is perception management as it is considered a secondary function. At best the ruling leaders think that they can build a positive image of the country by taking foreign tours with huge delegations, organising a few fashion shows and giving interviews to the media.
There is no doubt that the stories of terrorist attacks damage the image, which is hard to repair through advertising campaigns. It is also a fact that the dark shadow of prevailing security situation has eclipsed our image and our political baggage is too heavy and dirty. But this does not mean that we have no good stories to tell. The problem is that there is no institutionalised arrangement in the government to first identify such image building opportunities and then promote them using appropriate communication tools. The way things are the whole exercise has to be subtle and based on correct verifiable facts. The trouble is that all the government information machinery is usually focused on the ministers or other high profile personalities' image building instead of on the country's image.
A couple of months after joining the cabinet (prior to 9/11) Finance Minister, Shaukat Aziz, had asked what should be done to build Pakistan's image internationally. I suggested that he should concentrate on building Pakistan's business and social image only, as the country's political baggage is too heavy. At that time we had a military government, we were supporting the ruthless fascist government of Taliban, had not recovered from the Kargil adventure backlash and the ramification of a nuclear test. He liked the idea but nothing much came out of it once it went down the bureaucracy lane.
Again it was suggested to the BOI Chairman to establish a news collection and dissemination body, which should collect all development and progress reports objectively and then distribute them to the relevant local and foreign communication channels. Again nothing moved. Export Promotion Bureau was suggested to build promotional campaigns around the trade fairs which are attended by the Pakistani exporters. Idea was appreciated but nothing happened.
A few years back India moved forward and created India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF). This excellent organisation has been set up in public-private partnership of the Government of India and Confederation of Chambers of Industries. Even when the world is suffering from economic Tsunamis, they are successfully churning out stories and events to promote business growth in India. I had also provided material on this to Dr Salman Shah and suggested that the government should also have an organisation like that. He asked me to do it. Honestly speaking, I have neither the financial resources, nor time for undertaking such a huge assignment.
Right now I think the key message that should go out urgently is: "In Pakistan it's business as usual." This is important because the people abroad think that nothing is working in this country except the conflict with Taliban.
They have to be told the stories of enterprising Pakistani exporters still meeting their orders. Some industrial sectors are seeing a drop in growth rates but still they are functioning. In spite of stories of doom and gloom restaurants and fashion boutiques are opening and doing successful business in cities like Karachi and Lahore. The consumption of fast moving consumer goods, according to a FMCG multinational chief, is still growing. The money is moving from urban areas to rural areas because of higher prices of agricultural produce. Purchasing power of central Pakistan has increased thanks to higher remittances from abroad. Some industries and businesses who were working on expansion, may have slowed their programme but are still good stories. The other day there was a story of D. G. Khan cement planning to invest in a big project. There are many such stories which can be projected abroad.
Pakistan has one of most vibrant social network financed by philanthropists. Some NGOs are doing excellent work in the fields of education, health, women rights and income generation projects for the poor. All these are stories for broadcast, provided somebody knows how to do it and where to sell them. The stream of such subtle promotion stories and appropriate activities abroad can help in repairing and balancing our image abroad. Such development stories and activities if relayed properly can also give some hope to the people of Pakistan who are flooded with the depressing stories day-in-and-day-out. The issue is who would take the initiative?
(ayazbabar@gmail.com
Blog: abarayaz.wordpress.com)