An international conference "Nation Branding in a Globalized World" was organized by the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) from 29th July - 1st August 2010 in Berlin. The conference explored the concept of nation branding and its influence on the processes of globalization and increasing interdependence. During the 4-day conference renowned media experts, diplomats, politicians and intellectuals addressed the participants and threw light on the various aspects of the Nation Branding in the globalized world. A national brand can be understood as the reputation of a country and its population, the things it makes and does, and the way it makes and does them.

Shahid Riaz gave a lecture on "Nation Branding and the Case of Pakistan" in which he discussed the image of Pakistan.

Mr. Riaz said that there are a lot of facilities in Pakistan – for example mountaineering and desert safari – which can be offered to tourism business, but the main problem Pakistan is facing at the moment is that when the tourists don’t feel safe, they are hesitating to come, so the first question to address is stability in Pakistan, and he hopes that over the next few years Pakistan, with the help of the international community, will be successful in fighting terrorism and therefore Pakistan will be safer and there will be more tourism, and after that maybe the government will focus more on exploiting the tourist opportunities there.

He urged the youth of Western World to interact with the Pakistani youth as frequently as possible through various technological means like Facebook as the Pakistani society is passing through a transitional period and it needs support and encouragement against faithless terrorists. He further stated that Pakistan needs cooperation and help of the Western World at this critical moment of its fight against terrorism. Sharing his experience he stated that he has been living here for 13 years and actually studied in Germany. He believes that German society is very much open to the Muslim society – there are a lot of Turks; there are many Pakistanis as well, and other Muslim communities. Personally he doesn’t feel any problem, and regarding acceptance of Muslims, the people of the community don’t have any problems.

He said that Germany and Pakistan have historically good bilateral relations. There are many help projects run by the German government in Pakistan. There have been traditionally very good relations. Although, there should be more exchange of youngsters, more understanding and communication through media and among the young generation and NGOs. Overall, there should be more interaction, not only on a government level, but on a civil society level.

Some impressions of the participants

All pictures are provided by ICD