Asiatic Public Relations Network (Pvt) Ltd (APR), one of the oldest PR agency in Pakistan, was shortlisted for the prestigious Gold Standard Awards 2019, in the issues management and crisis communications category. Asiatic is the only agency from Pakistan which was shortlisted in any of the categories for the 2019 awards.

Organized by Hong Kong-based organization, Public Affairs Asia, Gold Standard Awards are held annually to recognize the best public relations practitioners across the region, which include achievements by agencies, corporations, NGOs and governmental agencies across 25 categories.

More than 100 of the region's most senior practitioners form the jury, to first shortlist entries and then to select the final winners, out of more than 250 entries that were received from countries all over Asia-Pacific.

Sharing his thoughts on this distinction, Zohare Ali Shariff, CEO of APR said that being shortlisted is indeed a singular honor, not only for agency but also for Pakistan, even if APR finally is not declared as the category winner.

"This is international recognition that is merit-based and transparent, and not one of those pay-to-win award schemes which seem to have proliferated in recent times.

Issues and crisis management and communications is one of our greatest strengths and this area of public relations has assumed even greater importance these days with the COVID-19 global crisis, which has deeply impacted businesses," he added.