Country Branding & Pakistan

COUNTRY BRANDING & PAKISTAN
Why and How a brand of a country impacts its wealth

Written By: Murtaza Khambati
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENTS PAGE NO.
Preface 1
Introduction 3
Section 1 – CONCEPT OF BRANDING 4
So what is this Branding phenomena 5
What is Brand Equity and why should we bother about it? 7
To Brand or not to Brand? 8
Section 2 – CONCEPT OF COUNTRY BRANDING 9
What is Country Branding and is it really possible to brand a country? 10
Country Brand v.s. Corporate Brand 12
Challenges of Country Branding 13
Benefits of Country Branding 15
Building a Country Brand 16
Dimensions of a Country Brand 18
Section 3 – EXAMPLES OF COUNTRY BRANDING 20
Estonia 21
Nigeria 21
Malaysia 21
China 22
Dubai 24
UAE 25
India 25
Australia 26
Switzerland 27
Section 4 – Country Brand of Pakistan 29
Pakistan – Branding & Re-Branding 30
Banking Sector 31
Economy 32
Exports 33
Politics 34
Telecommunication Sector 35
Information Technology Industry 37
Defence 39
Population 41
Education 42
Science & Research 45
Stock Market 47
Natural Resources 47
Foreign Direct Investment 48
Infrastructure Development 49
No Taxes 51
Beta User Pool 51
E-villages 52
Art 54
Human Resources 55
Tourism 56
Hidden Opportunities for Pakistan 58
References 61
PREFACE
To a hammer everything looks like a nail. I happen to be a marketer so to me everything looks like a brand.
You are a brand. Your shoes are a brand. Your jeans is a brand. Everything you are associated with is a
brand and says something about you.
What you wear (Armani or Nike), what you eat (Big Mac or Caesar Salad), what you drink (Full fat Coca-Cola
or Perrier water), your name (Mohammed or John), your car (BMW or Toyota), what you listen to (Metallica or
Madonna), your watch (Rolex or Swatch), your mobile (Blackberry or iPhone), your computer (MAC or PC),
your profession (accountant or rock star), your university (Harvard University or Webpreneur University), your
religion (Jewish or Hindu), your nationality (Swiss or Pakistani) – every single thing says something about
you.
Some things you have total control over (what you eat), some you are sort of in control (your weight – yes,
some people are naturally “big boned”) and some you have no control (your skin color – unless you are
Michael Jackson R.I.P.).
The more you travel, the more you realize that cities and countries are brands. Next time you meet a bunch
of strangers and they ask the inevitable “where are you from?” question – try out a couple of different places:
Switzerland, America, Israel, India, Argentina, Afghanistan, Lebanese, and Palestine. Just to figure out how it
is to be in the shoes of a different brand.
Depending on which part of the world you are from, you will receive different reactions. It might not help your
popularity telling people at a cocktail party in Tehran that you are Israeli, but in New York it won’t lead to the
end of your party invites.
This book is not just about Pakistan. It is about the branding of countries. The lessons of this book can be
applied to your part of the world. Every country in the world has different perceptions in different parts of the
world – perhaps it even has no perceptions.
Country Branding & Pakistan Page 1

Chile might not be known to Indians but in Britain their wine sells well. The fact is “Made in Country” is an
important label – it does make a difference. Perfume isn’t associated with “Kabul” but rather with Paris –
although there is no real reason for it to smell worse coming from Kabul.
So every country has started to develop and project an image, which will help it attract tourists, investors,
and visitors (professionals & businessmen), that will eventually give a big boost to the economy. But country
branding is not the same as any product branding. How can you mix different cultures, values, opportunities,
and strengths into a unified branding campaign to a diverse audience? It is much much tougher than writing
a book on country branding, but there are countries, which have done it very successfully and have generated
revenue worth billions of dollars.

INTRODUCTION:
I was standing in a long line of immigration waiting for my turn to see the immigration officer, so that I can
enter the United States of America. After a while, which seemed like a century to me, I was finally in front of
an immigration officer lady. She asked me a lot of questions like where am I coming from and for what
purpose have I arrived, what are my plans during my stay here, where will I be staying, etc etc. They were not
so inquisitive with the people who were before me in the line. Then I thought may be, it was because I was a
Pakistani citizen. So the perception of my country made them act the way they did. That means every country
has an image or a brand associated with it in the minds of other people. So country branding does exist.
The more you travel the more you realize that cities and countries are brands. Next time you meet a bunch of
strangers and they ask the inevitable "where are you from?" question - try out a couple of different places:
Switzerland, America, Israel, Indian, Argentina, Afghanistan, Lebanese, and Palestine. Just to figure out how
it is to be in the shoes of a different brand.
Depending on which part of the world you are, you will receive different reactions. It might not help your
popularity telling people at a cocktail party in Tehran that you are Israeli, but in New York it won't lead to the
end of your party invites.
This book is not just about Pakistan. It is about the branding of countries. The lessons of this book can be
applied to your part of the world. I will illustrate my point with a simple example that a watch made by the
best Swiss engineers who happen to build it in China and comes out with a "Made in China" will not sell more
more than a simple watch "Made in Switzerland". Every country in the world has different perceptions in
different parts of the world – perhaps it even has no perceptions.

SECTION 1
CONCEPT OF BRANDING

So what is this BRANDING phenomena?
The best way to understand branding to take an example from one of the gurus of branding, like CEO of
Sunkist. He said, “An orange is an orange…is an orange. Unless… that orange happens to be Sunkist, a name
80% of consumers know and trust!!!”
A brand is a combination of name, term, sign, symbol, or design. The main purpose of developing a brand is
to make a product unique, so that it can be easily differentiated from its competitors.
A brand serves multiple purposes and conveys different meaning, which are as follows:
1. Attribute Æ A brand brings to mind certain attributes.

2. Benefits Æ Attributes are translated into functional and emotional benefits.

3. Values Æ Brand elaborates the producer’s values.
4. Culture Æ Brand represents a particular culture.
5. Personality Æ Every brand has a certain persona associated with it.
6. User Æ Brand speaks a lot about the personality and standard of living of its user.
A brand is a commitment to its users of consistent, reliable, quality with all its benefits in each and every
product, no matter how many times it is bought.
A brand is not something physical, which can be seen or touched or felt. It exists in the minds and hearts of
its consumers. It plays such a critical role, that it is considered to be one of the pillars of marketing.
A Brand identity is how the company wants its brand to be perceived by public. A Brand image is how the
customers actually perceive the brand. In the ideal condition for a company, its brand image will be the same
as brand identity. If they are not the same, then the company needs to put in effort, time, and money to
synchronize them to reach the desired brand equity. So company needs to be good at brand management to
reach its target of brand equity.
Brand Management is the science of applying marketing techniques to improve the product’s perceived value
to the customer, thus developing brand equity.

What is Brand Equity and why should we bother about it?
Brand equity is the extent to which customers are willing to pay more for a particular brand as compared to
its substitute or equivalent products. Brand equity results in customers showing a preference for one product
over another when they are basically identical.
A brand needs to be carefully developed and managed, so that its equity does not get devalued with the
passage of time. This requires consistently making efforts to improve brand awareness, perceived quality and
functionality, and positive associations. These tasks require continuous R&D investment, skillful advertising,
and excellent trade and consumer service.

To Brand or not to Brand?
A million dollar question is to whether to brand a particular product or not. Well, nowadays, branding has
become such a trend that simple abundant commodities like salt, rice, oranges are distinctively packaged
and/or stamped with a particular brand.
Branding gives the seller the opportunity to attract a loyal and profitable set of customers. Brand loyalty gives
sellers some protection from competition.

SECTION 2
CONCEPT OF COUNTRY BRANDING

What is Country Branding and is it really possible to brand a
country?
To explain country branding, I would like to explain Country of Origin Effect. It is the effect (either positive or
negative) that the producing country has upon the buyer’s perception of product. In simple terms, it is the
“Made In _____” tag. If the reputation of a country is vague, unclear, or negative, then the product will not
gain much benefit by highlighting its tag of Made in this country. Similarly, when the reputation is clear and
positive such as with Germany (despite two world wars), products made in that country carry an extra
competitive advantage. The brand equity they possess opens doors and wins contracts.
Now, I will answer the question, as to what is branding. Country branding is the art and science of applying
branding and marketing communication techniques to create and promote a unique, distinctive image of the
country. Country branding concerns a country’s whole image, covering political, economic, historical, and
cultural dimensions.

The objective of any country branding campaign should be to create a simple, clear, differentiating idea built
around emotional qualities, which can be symbolized both verbally and visually and understood by diverse
audiences as the ideal place for trade, tourism, and investment.
People learn about a particular country from diverse sources, like school books, novels, newspapers, TV
shows, movies, magazines, trips abroad, contact with citizens of that country, contact with former residents,
etc etc.
It is possible to brand a country, but it is not as sweet as a pie. A brand associated with a product can be
discontinued, modified, withdrawn from market, re-launched, or re-positioned, or replaced by improved
products. This much flexibility is not available for a country brand, since it takes years for structural
problems to be fixed. Also, countries have certain images associated with them, which take years, decades,
and sometimes, more than half a century to be altered. I have explained challenges of country branding in
detail below.
For some countries, brand is developed in a controlled and calculated way, like UK. In 1997, Cool Britannia
campaign was launched by British industrialists, news agencies, and government to project a cool and trendy
image. For others, brand is developed in rather spontaneous way. India shifted its image in an uncontrolled
way from spirituality and poverty to IT outsourcing hub and highly educated manpower.

Country Brand v.s. Corporate Brand:
There is always a relationship or a link between a corporate brand and its country of origin. This relationship
can either be hidden or obvious, but it is always there. A country brand can have a positive or a negative
effect on the corporate brands of that country. That is why corporate brands of well-developed country brands
have an advantage over its competitors from the poor country brands. A watch manufactured in USA will be
perceived as more reliable and prestigious than a watch manufactured in Philippines or Srilanka, even though
latter has more features in it.
Now the question that comes to my mind is that does a positive country brand help a corporate brand or a
superb corporate brand contributes in developing a country brand? Well, it is just like the chicken and egg

story. A country with a positive image will be perceived as an exporter of quality branded goods, and quality
brands of that country will enhance the country brand of being an exporter of quality branded goods.
A specific product may be weaker or stronger than the "global" image of their country of origin, but it is
strongly affected by the country brand. So even though Japan may not be famous for its chocolates or
perfume, if Japan's country brand improves, then it have a positive affect on all its products whether it is
chocolates, perfumes, or cars.
Challenges of Country Branding:

A product brand is a tangible offer with functional and/or emotional benefits, but a country brand doesn’t
have a tangible offer, attributes are difficult to describe, and benefits are purely emotional with no functional
benefits.
A product can be easily defined with its unique selling proposition, but a country brand is far too difficult to
define and to make it distinctive and unique. For e.g., in country branding of UK, British culture was
promoted, but UK has a large ethnic population with multiple cultures.
It is very difficult to communicate a single message to different audiences in different countries and the
reason is very simple. Whenever I have to give a presentation, I first find out the audience that will be hearing
my presentation. Then I design my presentation keeping in mind my target audience, so that the audience
doesn’t only understand it, but also enjoys it and learns from it. But in the case of country branding,

projecting a single message can be interpreted by different people in different ways. Also, it is difficult for
different industry sectors to use a single message. For e.g. it will be difficult for France to promote cheese,
perfumes, fashion, tourist spots, and cars with a single message. Another example is a country branding
campaign promoting its highly skilled and educated workforce will not be very attractive for potential tourists.
Developing a central theme for a branding campaign might prove to be real challenging for a country with
multiple nations, in which there are ethnic, cultural, lingual, and religious differences
The concept of globalization is in direct conflict with country branding. Globalization tries to converge the
different cultures, preferences, and tastes of different countries, while in country branding, distinctiveness
and uniqueness of different countries is highlighted.
Product branding is relatively simple, since a branded product can be bought for a few dollars, or a few
hundred dollars, or may be a few thousand dollars. But country branding is complex, since companies
looking to invest in a particular country invest millions of dollars and they would like their investment
to be safe and secure and earn them attractive rate of return. Also, tourists who would like to spend their
vacation will spend thousands of dollars in that country and would like a high value for their money, meaning
having a great time during vacations with no hassles and return back to their country safe and sound.
A marketing campaign can help a newly independent country build its unique image, but for an old country,
history of decades and sometimes centuries cannot be easily wiped clean.
Another challenge is the lack of unity of purpose. Different stakeholders with conflicting interests can make it
really tough to come up with a unique, central theme for a branding campaign. For e.g., if tourism is being
promoted, then mountains, green valleys, and rivers will be promoted versus the objective of encouraging

foreign direct investment by showing off well-developed infrastructure and cheap and abundant availability of
human resource and electricity.
Benefits of Country Branding:

Country brand provides credibility and instant recognition to new or unknown brands of that country in new
markets.
World is becoming a global village in which international barriers of trade are gradually being removed. So
competition for FDI, tourism, and exports is getting intense. If a country has a positive image, it will give a
competitive advantage to all its originated products and helping them compete successfully in the global
market with their neighbors, region blocks, or countries in different continents.
Domestic products do not usually have an advantage over imports. You might think that patriots will go for
the domestic product instead of the foreign one, but a product with higher quality or lower price always wins.
So it is very important for the product to be made in a country with a positive country brand, otherwise, it will
lose against its competitors.

Building a Country Brand:-
Building a country brand is not easy, since a country’s image is influenced by many inter-related factors, like
history, current affairs, personal experiences of tourists, citizen-to-citizen interaction, product experience,
arts, heritage, culture, sports, diplomacy and foreign affairs, word-of-mouth, etc.
To develop a country brand, there should be co-operation and involvement of all representatives of the
government and private sector.
Initially before starting a country branding campaign, an image perception audit should be conducted both
nationally and internally, to understand what people currently think about a particular country.
Then, that country’s SWOT analysis should be carried out, to find out what is the strength of the country that
can be promoted to enhance the image of the country.
Then, consultation with the opinion leaders be done before preparing the branding campaign and all
stakeholders should be taken along during the design and development of this campaign. Special emphasis
should be given to the citizens, since they are the brand ambassadors of the country.
Then a strategy should be created using known professional brand models, which should be based on a
central theme, like a unique selling proposition for any product.
Then improvement programs and campaigns be developed based on the formulated strategy.
Most importantly, there should be an integrated network, by linking together different organizations and
ministries to make the message appear coherent, just like a choir singing with one voice.

In developing a product brand, there is focus on four key areas, which are as follows:
1. Experience Æ It includes customer perceptions, customer service, action of sales team and delivery
team
2. Quality Æ it includes tastes and levels of service, ingredients and raw materials used, product
durability, guarantees and warrantees, cutting edge technology, etc
3. Identity Æ It includes visible and memorable names, logos, colors, sponsorships, packaging, shelf
position and display, mall, outlet and vehicle displays, company uniforms, etc
4. Communication Æ PR and advertising, letterheads, internet presence with website and blogs and
search engine marketing and search engine optimization, news releases, and sponsored articles.
In the same way, in developing a country brand, focus is on the same four areas, explained below:
1. Experience Æ It includes perception of tourists, investors, visitors on business or professional visit,

sportspersons attending a competition or a championship
2. Quality Æ it includes the enjoyment and excitement that tourists experienced, the return on investment
that investors received, etc.
3. Identity Æ it includes country’s flag, slogan of branding (Malaysia: Truly Asia, Dubai: The Jewel in the
Desert, China: The Factory of the World, Sri Lanka: The Pearl of the Indian Ocean)
4. Communication Æ PR and advertising, internet presence, news releases, trade exhibitions, news media,
etc.
A lot of countries are turning to PR to improve or revive their damaged image. Argentina appointed Bell
Pottinger in March to improve its perception in Europe and USA. Russia appointed Ketchum to remove its

perception of secrecy. Dubai is using multiple PR agencies to repair its image after financial disaster. China
has selected Hill & Knowlton to handle its global communications account. South Africa has appointed MS&L
and Dow Jones Insight for the public relations for 2010 World Cup.
Dimensions of a Country Brand:-

There are six different dimensions of a country brand, which are explained below:
1. Tourism:
It is the world’s 4th largest export industry and a great contributor of foreign exchange reserves. It is
considered to be a major economic driver through employment, international visitor expenditures,
investments, and regional development. In the ranking of receiving the highest number of tourists
annually, France is at first place, Spain is at second, and USA is at third.
2. Export Brands:
World is gradually turning into a global village with no boundaries for travelers and no trade barriers for
goods. Every country is in a race with its neighbors, regional countries, and distant countries to increase
exports as much as possible. Increase in exports raises self-esteem and confidence of country, as well as
improves international image of the country, thus helping other exported products as well.

3. Investments:
Foreign investment brings with it a lot of benefits, like constructive competition, better quality standards,
development of skills and manpower, knowledge and information sharing between countries, increased
employment, technological innovation, and foreign exchange. Due to these major benefits, every country,
either developed or developing, is always trying to project an investment-friendly image.
4. Foreign and Domestic Policies:

Every country’s foreign and domestic policies should be integrated and complement each other in such a
way that combined, they support the national brand.
5. People:
A country’s brand is promoted by its people. Every citizen is a brand ambassador. Corporate branding
campaigns can raise employees’ morale, team spirit, and motivation. In the same way, national branding
campaigns provide people with national pride and sense of belonging.
6. Culture and Heritage:

Culture influences all aspects of life. It depicts the spiritual and intellectual capabilities of its people. A
country’s culture offers a deep, rich, and complex set of experiences for a foreigner.

SECTION 3
EXAMPLES OF COUNTRY
BRANDING

Good & Bad Country Brands:
Estonia:
It is a small country that recently got its independence from Russia. It won the Eurivision song contest a few
years ago. That means it hosted the following year’s competition, which has an audience of 166 million TV
viewers. This is an excellent opportunity to project its brand and country image.
Nigeria:
It is the sixth largest producer and exporter of crude oil in the world and has a population of 200 million. The
proceeds from the sales of natural resources is wasted on corrupt and lavish lifestyles of successive regimes,
instead of investing back into the country to improve social systems and infrastructure, which plays a critical
role in attracting foreign investors. A blessing from GOD which could have been used properly for the welfare
of its people and to improve its image is being wasted.
Malaysia:
Approximately 75 years ago, it was known for tin, rubber, and to a lesser extent, oil. In the 1st Malaya plan in
1950s, it focused on manufacturing and to a lesser extent on palm oil and tourism. This strategy was
consistently followed and implemented upto the 2nd industrial plan, which was from 1996 to 2005. From 2000

onwards, this strategy didn’t remain very effective, since FDI started flowing to competitors. So in 3rd
industrial master plan, which was from 2006 to 2020, emphasis is on building the services sector.
China:
China has become the factory of the world, but its image is tarnished by counterfiet & unsafe products, like
medicine, softwares like OS, toys, etc. So China’s global image is of products with cheap price, but of low
quality with safety problems.
It was even unable to cash-in on Olympics goodwill largely due to tainted milk powder scandal.
Now, Chinese government is worried about its poor image and is taking strict actions to improve its image,
which are as follows:
- Government crushed humongous manufacturing centers being operated by criminals, manufacturing a

variety of goods from pirated Microsoft softwares to fake Viagra. Approximately $500 million worth of pirated
Microsoft and Symantec software was seized.
- It has set up systems and regulatory bodies to strictly monitor all products with safety and health
precautions.
- It executed former head of the State Food & Drug Administration, Zheng xiaoyu, for accepting bribes and
not administering the products fairly.

- Officials from different regulatory bodies and ministries are holding news conferences regularly to announce
new regulations or to announce successful crackdowns.
- Large rewards are being offered to public for reporting illegal practices in the food industry
These steps have produced concrete results, but still there is a long way to go.
Chinese products rank low in attractiveness, high quality, fashionable, and well-designed categories, as
revealed by the Made-in-China survey recently conducted, in which 700+ business professionals were
interviewed. But now, gigantic multinational companies of China, like Lenovo, Huawei, ZTE, Haier, Tsingtao
Beer are trying to change that image.
Lenovo acquired IBM’s personal computer division in 2004, thus increasing its brand popularity. It was also
the only gold sponsor from China in 2008 Olympics.
Haier acquired some US brands in 2005 to become the third largest appliance maker, after Whirlpool and GE.

Dubai:
Dubai does not have any oil reserves, so it had to use investors’ money to develop its emirates. So, Dubai was
declared as a duty-free port, a connection point between Asia and Europe. So all travelers changing planes in
Dubai got familiar with the city and played their parts in its development.
The brand of Dubai was projected aggressively over the last decade with the help of investor-friendly tax free
zones, sporting events, Burj-Dubai, Sky slopes, gigantic malls, but when the world was hit by recession, all
investors left in a hurry and Dubai was left stranded. It shows that the brand was developed too quickly
without adequate planning, so it turned into a brand of Las Vegas type brand, "great for weekend" only.

UAE:
UAE has set very aggressive targets for 2010, 15 million tourists in 2010 for a population of 1.8 million people
(by comparison, France welcomes 80 million tourists every year and its population is 64 million people). All
emirates of UAE are promoting a unique, distinctive quality about themselves, thus playing their part in
improving the overall image of UAE. For instance, Dubai is about entertainment, Abu Dhabi about culture
and Sharjah is about heritage and tradition, Ras-Al-Khaimah is about tax-free investor heaven, and so on and
so forth.
India:
It is a large country with approximately population of 1 billion people from diverse ethnic, cultural, religious,
and lingual backgrounds. So, for India, it is nearly an impossible task to merge such a great diversity to
present a single, centralized theme to the global community.
Campaigns like “India Shining” and “Incredible India” were expensive experiments which did not produce
desired results.
Factors like educated inexpensive population, IT outsourcing hub are strengthening the brand, but issues like
leniency against extremism and terrorism, inefficient health system, outdated regulations for labour and land
are weakening the India brand.

Austrialia:
If you think branding a diverse country is challenging, take the example of Australia, which is not just a
country, but a continent. If they can use their diversity in their country brand to reach the top spot in
Country Brand Index (2007), then any country can.
Country branding efforts started in 1995 by the Australian Tourism Commission. The branding campaign
took the naturally free spirited theme, with the country’s natural beauty, its cities and landscapes, and the
free-spirited nature of the Australian people. It proved to be an excellent theme, which helped them in 2000
Olympics in Sydney as well. But then due to global events and circumstances like Sept. 11 attacks, Australia
brand was re-assessed keeping in view the changing times and circumstances. In 2004, with the consultation
of governmental and private organizations, new brand values were decided. Australia was projected as a place
free of boundaries, inhibitions, and constraints. Also, the other projected values were irreverence, optimism,
amteship, integrity, and originality.

Tourism Australia used TV and print advertising, retail promotions, online ads, point-of-sale pursuits, and
direct marketing to project the new image. Eventually, all the hard work and efforts paid off when Australia
was on 1st rank in the Country Brand Index in 2007.
Switzerland:
It is a small country of an area of less than 16,000 sq. miles and a population of approximately 8 million
people. It has a series of famous brands associated with it, which includes Nescafe’, Nestle’, Credit Suisse,
Zurich (diversified insurance company), Rolex, Omega, Lindt, Swatch, Union Bank of Switzerland, Novartis,
Roche, and the list goes on and on.
With so many great brands under the name of this country, the value of “Swiss made” or “made in
Switzerland” is so high, that government is making new laws to protect it, so that Swiss brand is not misused
or abused.
Swiss brand initially picked up when Swiss promoted its slogan of neutrality, i.e. they don’t fight with anyone,
which made investors think that their money is safe with them. So it developed the banking industry. Along
with it, other complimentary goods and services also developed for the wealthy visitors, like expensive hotels
and restaurants, tourist attractions like ski resorts, expensive watches, etc etc.
Switzerland’s Federal department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) regularly publishes a comprehensive corporate
identity manual for Brand Switzerland, in which the objective is gradually move the brands from the current

values of ‘reliable’, ‘precise’, ‘exclusive’, ‘expensive’, ‘beautiful’, ‘neutral’ to ‘trustworthy’, ‘premium quality’,
and ‘authentic’.
All is not rosy for the Swiss brand, as it had its fair share of negative publicity. In the past decade,
Switzerland was bad-mouthed for dormant holocaust-era bank accounts and money laundering cases. Also,
two years ago, elections held in Switzerland were accused of Xenophobia. The most recent negative press was
in 2009, when Union Bank of Switzerland, the largest bank of Switzerland and a famous financial institution
was fined $800 million for helping wealthy Americans evade income taxes.

SECTION 4
COUNTRY BRAND OF PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN – BRANDING & RE-BRANDING:
After explaining various branding examples of countries, I will shed some light on the facts and figures about
Pakistan, contrary to what Western media has been portraying about it without proper investigation and
reliable authentic sources.
Pakistan has become the 20th most attractive outsourcing destination, according to consulting management
firm A.T. Kearney. Now, you might be wondering how is that possible with political and economic instability
as well as war on terrorism going on within the country? Well, there is a complex inter-linked network of a
long list of factors playing their role in putting Pakistan as the 20th most attractive outsourcing destination. I
will try to shed some light on as many factors as possible.

BANKING SECTOR:
In early 1990s, citizens had a few options in choosing a bank for their financial needs, and they were mostly
public banks. Financial services/products were very limited and customer service was not satisfactory. Then,
during the presidency of Pervez Musharraf, banking sector was deregulated, foreign banks were given
permission to invest in Pakistan and set up their operations and major public banks were privatized. During
the period of 2006-2008, approximately $4 billion worth of foreign direct investment was fed into the banking
sector. Currently, half of the assets of banks are owned by foreign banks.
Due to fierce competition, technology, customer service, and innovation have improved significantly. As a
result, banks’ aggregate profitability rose from Rs. 63.3 billion in 2005 to Rs. 73.3 billion by 2007 and Rs. 46
billion for half year 2008.
There is still a lot of opportunites lying around for investors, as large segments of population and geography
are still underserved by the existing banks. Only 15% (25 million) of the population of 160 million has bank
account and approximately 4% (5.5 million) are borrowers.
Even though two-thirds of the population lives in rural areas, only 25% of total bank depositors and 17% of
total borrowers reside in rural areas.

ECONOMY:
Just like other countries, Pakistan’ economy has been hit severely by the global recession, but due to its
inherent resiliency, it sustained the pressure and started moving on the road of recovery very quickly. During
the period of July-Nov 2009, Pakistan’s overall external account recorded a surplus of $0.9 billion compared
to a deficit of $5.6 billion in the same period last year. This improvement was due to a significant decrease in
the current account deficit and an increase in the financial account surplus. As a result, Pakistan’s foreign
exchange reserves jumped to $13.7 billion by the end of Nov 2009. Last year in the same period, foreign
exchange reserves were at an extremely low level of $9.1 billion.

The worst performance of Pakistan’s economy was in 2008, with a trade deficit of $20.7 billion, mostly
contributed by the $150 barrel crude oil price. From then onwards, Pakistan has reduced unnecessary
imports and has increased exports in the areas of defence, software, textiles, leather goods, and sports goods.
On every dark cloud, there is a silver lining, just like in the case of global recession. As per the latest World
Economic Outlook report published in October 2009, global economy is on the path of recovery. Trade
prospects for all countries, developing, developed, and emerging economies, indicate a sharp increase in both
imports as well as exports.
EXPORTS:
Pakistan’s overall exports have been steadily increasing thanks to a lot of foreign investment, as well as due to
local talent showing their true potential, even in adverse conditions with little support from the government.
Just to give you an example, 2 young guys from Islamabad have setup an online store by the name of “A1
Rug” to sell handmade Pakistani carpets. They have been targeting mainly European and American market
and have been very successful at that.
As everyone knows, Pakistan is a major exporter of a lot of fruits, vegetables, meat, grains, and other
commodities. The biggest problem that Pakistani exporters faced was ensuring quality in the exports. In
2006-07, ASF launched 2 mega projects to help Citrus and Mango processors and exporters in obtaining
GLOBALCAP Certification. GLOBALCAP is an international certification being administered by Good
Agricultural practices (GAP). This project was aimed at 16 leading Kinnow processors and exporters, who have
15,111 acres of land and produce 150,000 tons of annual kinnows. In the second project, 19 leading

processors and exporters at Tando Allahyar producing in an area of 1354 acres of land were assisted in
acquiring Organic Farming Certification. These 2 projects cost approximately Rs. 50 million. Due to these
certifications, new export markets opened up for Pakistani fruits commanding premium prices.
Approximately 60% of the total exports of Pakistan are contributed by the textile sector. At the time of
independence in 1947, Pakistan possessed only 1 textile mill, in Faisalabad. Currently, it has more than 450
spinning mills and 35 composite textile mills.
Pakistan is also famous for its sports goods, especially football. The official football used in 2006 FIFA
Football World Cup were mostly from Sialkot, Pakistan. Approximately, 40 million footballs worth over $210
million are produced annually in Sialkot.
POLITICS:
In Pakistan, after the departure of dictatorship in 2000, democracy has been strengthened and parliament
has become one of the pillars of this country. There is growing consensus between the government and the
opposition on various issues, which has eased the tension and has brought down political temperature. Not
only that, but judiciary has been strengthened with full authority and autonomy. Also, there is coherence
among all 3 sectors, i.e. judiciary, executive, and legislature.

TELECOMMUNICATION SECTOR:
After the deregulation of telecom sector, this industry has grown at an exponential rate surpassing all
expectations. During the period of 2008-09, teledensity crossed 62%, showing a growth of 5% compared to the
previous year. I might add that Pakistan has the highest teledensity in South-Asia. During the same period of
2008-09, $1.6 billion worth of investment has been made by all the telecom service providers, of which
cellular operators’ share is about 75%.
During the past 5 years, $6.5 billion have been invested in the telecom sector. Major countries that have
invested more than 70% in the last 5 years include UAE, USA, Norway, and China. Among these top runner-
ups, UAE is leading the pack by investing over $2.34 billion since 2004-05.
China Mobile, the largest mobile operator in the world has its first overseas operations in Pakistan, under the
brand name of ZONG. It has so far invested $1.66 billion in Pakistan and has generated more than 1700
direct and over 40,000 indirect jobs in the country. It has invested $300 million in 2010, which is the largest
investment by any telecom operator in this year.
Now, you might be wondering that just because telecom sector is deregulated, how can it suddenly explode
and attract so much investment? Well, an important factor to consider is the regulatory body, Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority. Through policies and procedures, it has created a level-playing field for all
operators to compete in, and takes strict action against that operator which is using unethical or illegal
means to obtain an advantage over its rivals. Also, it lobbies government in announcing new legislature as
well as fiscal budge, which is in the favor of telecom sector and creates a more conducive environment. I will
prove my point with an example. In June 2008, Government of Pakistan raised General Sales Tax (GST) on

cellular industry to 21% from 15%, introduced import duty on mobile handsets at Rs. 750 and also increased
SIM activation tax to Rs. 500. PTA contacted government at various levels and tried to convince them that
these taxes will hinder the growth of cellular industry and taxes should be minimized as much as possible. As
a result, government reduced GST from 21% to 19.5%, SIM activation tax was reduced from Rs. 500 to Rs.
250 and import duty was reduced from Rs. 750 to Rs. 250 in the budget of 2008-09.
Due to the positive competitive environment, communication cost has dropped tremendously. Now, thanks to
calling cards and other voip services in Pakistan, you can call Canada, USA, China, UK etc at approximately
the same rate as a local call.
Pakistan has the largest WIMAX network in the world. Wateen Telecom deployed its WIMAX network in 17
cities with the technology of Motorola. Later on, Mobilink, a sister company of Orascom also jumped in
deploying even a greater WIMAX network with the help of Motorola and Nokia Siemens Networks.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY:
With great emphasis on IT education, Pakistanis have become one of the most ideal places for IT offshore
outsourcing. Gartner, the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company has placed
Pakistan amongst the top countries of the world in terms of suitability for offshore outsourcing. In its recent
report, “Analysis of Pakistan as an Offshore Service Location”, the major factors behind the improved status is

the low salaries and better infrastructure as compared to other offshore destinations. The report states, “The
salaries of IT professional in Pakistan are approximately 30% lower than those in India, while
telecommunication costs are also lower as compared to any other offshore locations, which make Pakistan an
attractive outsourcing destination.”
As per the Garner research report, Pakistani government is working on a national IT policy with the objective
of encouraging the private sector. In order to accelerate development, Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB)
plans to construct new IT parks in major cities while 750,000 square feet of space in PSEB-designated parks
has already been leased to IT companies.
According to the management consulting firm, A.T. Kearney, Pakistan has become the 20th most attractive
destination for outsourcing. This information was released on 18th May in the A.T. Kearney’s 2009 Global
Services Location Index, in which Pakistan’s position improved from 30th place to 20th place. This
improvement was due to significant cost decreases associated with Pakistani environment. Countries are
measured on 43 attributes, which are related to financial attractiveness, people and skills availability, and
business environment.
Currently, the IT industry is worth more than $2.8 billion, including annual exports of greater than $1.4
billion. PSEB has set the target to help this industry grow to $11 billion by the end of 2011. There are more
than 130 ISO & CMMI certified companies operating in Pakistan and considerable global leaders have
established their outsourcing centers in Pakistan.

DEFENCE:
Pakistan’s defence is impregnable, thanks to its superior research and development capabilities. It is a
country that builds its own fighter planes, UAVs, ballistic missiles (both long-range and short-range), cruise
missiles, tanks, various types of guns, and most importantly, nuclear weapons.
There are companies in Pakistan, like Integrated Dynamics and Satuma, which design and build unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAV). Integrated Dynamics has sold approximately 20 of their UAVs, dubbed as Border Eagle,
together with their ground display software to U.S. Homeland Border Control.

To increase defence exports, IDEAS, an exhibition of all defence-related technology is organized every year. In
2008, participants arrived from 59 countries to attend the biggest exhibition in the history of Pakistan.
The defence-related exports have increased to $300 million and is expected to touch $1 billion within the next
5 years.

POPULATION:
Pakistan has a population of 160 million people and is growing quickly. In 2003, growth rate was more than
2%. By the end of 2008, it was brought down to 1.8%. This result was achieved by the population reduction
programs, that stretched in every part of the country. The province of Punjab also launched lady health
worker program to assist the young mothers and infants with health problems in far-flung places. If the
current rate continues, then within the next 15 years, growth rate will be down to 1.2%.

A major achievement is that Pakistan won 3 awards at APICTA Awards, a major competition in the IT world,
in which there were 134 applications competing from 11 different countries in the region. Pakistan competed
in all 16 categories and came out with 3.
Let’s not forget that a young Pakistani student, 12 years old, Irtiza Haider of Class 8 has become the world’s
youngest Cisco Certified Network Associate.
Another example worth mentioning is the MIT tech competition, in which the objective of the contest was to
submit a design for a residential electricity monitoring device that could count the total electricity into a
residential home and then transmit and store that data to an MIT database. Two sophomore students from
LUMS University were placed in the top 5 entrants, as judges were very much impressed with their design,
controller code, circuit diagrams, and an explanatory write up.
EDUCATION:
Quality and quantity of education in Pakistan paints a grim picture of this sector with only 40% literacy rate.
In the latest Global Competitiveness Report of World Economic Forum, Pakistan ranked 117 out of 134
countries in terms of quality primary education.
Government is taking a lot of initiatives to not only spread education, but also to improve its standards.
Currently, there are more than 30+ international-level universities (internationally compatible academic
system) with world-class IT infrastructure and fully-equipped laboratories for students to go to for higher
education. In the next 5 years, 8000+ faculty members with Ph.D will be available for teaching.

During 2007-08, Higher Education Commission (HEC) funded 4137 scholarships for Ph.D studies inside the
country and 2670 students for higher studies abroad. 293 HEC scholars returned back to Pakistan after
completing their doctoral studies, while 66 completed their doctoral studies inside the country.
Also, HEC has launched Digital Library Programme, with the objective of providing international scientific
publications for universities in Pakistan. It is proving to be an important step towards reducing the knowledge
gap / digital divide between Pakistan and developed countries. It will also foster and encourage research
culture in Pakistan.
Most commendable is the packet-switch based Pakistan Education Research Network (Phase 2), which has
connected all public sector universities in Pakistan via video conference. So, researchers in different
universities can conveniently collaborate on various researches that are being conducted in their university
and create a synergy between them.
There is still a lot of room for improvement, since literacy rate needs to reach 100%. Unfortunately,
government doesn’t have enough resources at its disposal to achieve such an ambitious target. Private sector
along with investors needs to play an active role in assisting government with this long-term goal. Companies
can invest in providing technology incubator in the universities for research and all developments or
innovations or inventions can then be commercialized. Also, companies can provide venture capital funding to
different universities to promote research and then the technological improvements are commercialized. But
all of this is possible only when strong university-industry linkages exist.

The best part is that there is abundance of talent in Pakistani students. Recently, Pakistani students won
silver medals in the international Science Olympiads, while competing with students from 50 developed
countries.
Thanks to the internet and web technologies, Pakistani students can have the same level of education as
students from developed countries. Good examples are virtual university (www.vu.edu.pk) and Webpreneur
University (http://webpreneuruniversity.com).

SCIENCE & RESEARCH:
Everyone knows about the famous LHC, the Large Hadron Collider, that will uncover the mysteries of
universe. But what you didn’t know is that there are 27 Pakistani scientists and physicists involved in the
operation of LHC.
Apart from that, as per sciencewatch.com, citations of Pakistani scientific publications are rising sharply.
Pasted below is the list of countries with the highest percent increase in total citations, in which Pakistan has
the distinction of being the leader in 5 categories.

Country Field
TUNISIA Agricultural Sciences
NIGERIA Biology & Biochemistry
SERBIA MONTENEG Chemistry
IRAN Clinical Medicine
PAKISTAN Computer Science
U ARAB EMIRATES Economics & Business
PAKISTAN Engineering
IRAN Environment/Ecology
ZAMBIA Geosciences
NIGERIA Immunology
PAKISTAN Materials Science
PAKISTAN Mathematics
TUNISIA Microbiology
THAILAND Molecular Biology & Genetics
SINGAPORE Multidisciplinary
ARMENIA Neuroscience & Behavior
U ARAB EMIRATES Pharmacology & Toxicology
SERBIA MONTENEG Physics
PAKISTAN Plant & Animal Science
TRINID & TOBAGO Psychiatry/Psychology
BRAZIL Social Sciences, general
NAMIBIA Space Science

STOCK MARKET:
Now, let’s talk about the stock market. The performance of Karachi Stock Exchange has been quite impressive
during past decade. Even though due to the impact of global recession, there were a few dips in 2009, but
now it has recovered and is growing at an astonishing speed. The KSE index recently crossed 10,500 points,
establishing a 19-month high level.
As per the Bloomberg, Pakistan’s stocks, the cheapest in Asia, still have a lot of margin to grow by as much as
23% in the next eight months, buoyed by overseas funds and improved company earnings.
NATURAL RESOURCES:
Pakistan is blessed with a wide range of natural resources, from gold and silver to natural gas, oil, marble,
and coal.
Pakistan Petroleum Limited, the nation’s second biggest fuels explorer, has expanded oil and natural gas
exploration to a record number of areas to help meet energy demands of the country. The company is
currently working on 36 blocks, of which it is the main operator in 20. That compares with an average of 20
blocks in which they were the main operator in only 5 or 6.
There is a refinery being built in Balochistan with the joint venture between Abu Dhabi ‘s International
Petroleum Investment Company (74% stake) and Pakistan Arab Refinery Company (36% stake) . This project
is worth $5 billion and upon its completion, it will have a capacity of 200,000 to 300,000 barrels a day.

A letter of intent has been submitted to the Sindh Chief Minister to setup a project, i.e. a 1,000 MW coal-
based power plant to be setup in Thar with the joint co-operation of South Korean company PEDCO and UAE-
based Bin Din Group. The South-Korean firm, will work for 3 years in blocks 4 and 8 and start drilling and
boring for coal reserves. Then, it will set up a thermal power plant of 1000 MW by using Thar coal reserves.
Foreign Direct Investment:
If you are wondering why so much FDI is flowing in Pakistan, well, the answer is very simple. Pakistan has
the most liberal FDI policy in the region, where 100% equity is allowed to be held by the foreign investor and
they can repatriate 100% of their profits. Due to this policy, Pakistan attracted over $19 billion FDI, during
the last 5 years.

Infrastructure Development:
For a country to not only progress economically, but also to attract investors, it must have well-developed
infrastructure. In that aspect, Pakistan is developing at an exceptionally high speed.
One of the largest infrastructure projects currently in progress is Lahore’s 80km+ 6-lance circular highway,
known as the Ring Road. Previously, M2, Motorway linking Lahore to Islamabad has already been developed,
making commuting between two metro cities much easier. Also, Multan Road has been converted into a
highway and Ferozepur Road has been converted into a Lahore-Kasur highway. M1 motorway has been
developed, connecting Peshawar to Lahore. This motorway link has been extended to Sargodha and
Faisalabad as well.
The world’ highest highway, the Karakoram Friendship Highway, which was initially built in the 1960s with
the co-operation of Chinese government has been widened and upgraded via joint venture between Pakistan

and China worth $327 million. This highway will help boost trade between the two countries. Plans are
already underway to connect China to Gwadar port with the shortest possible distance.
Another major project in Lahore worth mentioning is Lake City. It is a gigantic residential / commercial
project, spread over 2,104 acres of land. It will contain 4000 houses, a lot of shops, malls, and some office
buildings. At its center, it will have a giant lake, an artificial beach, PGA 18 hole golf course, and a 5-star
hotel.
Punjab IT board is constructing a Software Park Tower, a skyscraper building that will provide office space to
all high-tech companies and research institutes. Also, to host international conferences and trade shows in
Lahore, a large convention center surrounded by tall buildings has been constructed.
A new port, Gwadar has been built in the province of Balochistan. A new airport has been built in Lahore,
another international airport in Sialkot, Pakistan’s largest airport is being built in Islamabad, and a new
airport is being built in Gwadar.
A lot of 5-star hotels are currently under construction, like Hyatt in Lahore and Islamabad each,
Intercontinental in Islamabad etc. A 7-star hotel, Centaurus is also under construction in Islamabad.
Most important landmark, Sheikh Zayed Complex is under construction, will be the tallest building in South-
Asia. It will take approximately 3-4 years to complete.

No taxes:
How would you like if you had to pay no taxes on your income? Well, guess what? You don’t have to pay any
taxes on your income earned by exporting software or software-driven service. Now, that’s a major financial
incentive for all software houses which are either operating locally, or have their back-office in Pakistan.
Beta user Pool:
Pakistan’s 160 million can prove to be a great beta test pool, since Pakistani youngsters as well as older
people are as tech-savvy as their US or UK counterparts. So a company can do a soft-launch in Pakistan and
see how it goes. Based on their experience, they can optimize their product and then do a major launch with a
big bang in US. This option is much cheaper for companies, because if a product fails in Pakistan, that
company will have lost a few thousand dollars and after improving their product, they can again launch it in
US and make a killing. But if they directly launch in US and the product fails, then the company will not only
lose millions of dollars, but will also not be able to re-do the product and launch it again.

E-villages:
If you are wondering when and how did Pakistanis became as tech-savvy as US and UK counterparts when
two-thirds of their population is living in rural villages? Well, welcome to the 21st century.
A remote village by the name of Mira Bagwal, some distance away from Capital City, Islamabad, has been
converted into an e-village. It has been provided with a 2MB internet broadband connection. It has also been
provided with video conferencing facility, so that the villagers can conveniently communicate with specialist
doctors, farming & cultivation experts, teachers & professors for mentoring on various research topics, etc
etc. Also, the library has been converted into e-library. Not only that, but various traditional products hand-
made by the local children would be presented for marketing via internet.

Mira Bagwal is the first village that has been converted into an e-village and 300 more villages have been
planned for similar facilities.
Pakistan is luckily placed in a very strategic location, which is giving a significant competitive advantage over
its regional competitors. If China wants to export its products to middle-eastern and east-asian customers,
then must be brought to the sea ports of Pakistan, either Karachi Port or Gwadar port. If India wants to
import natural gas or oil from Iran or Central Asian countries, then the pipelines must pass through
Pakistan. If Central Asian countries want to export their oil through a warm water port, it must be transferred
to Pakistani ports. Pakistan is also providing logistics support to US and NATO army for their operations in
Afghanistan, because all supplies must pass through either Pakistan or Iran to reach Afghanistan.

ART:
Pakistan’s art has recently gained immense popularity, due to which prices have increased 10 to 20 times in
the last year or two. Just to give you an example, veteran painter TAsadduq Sohail hardly received more than
$50 for a painting until he was 65. In 2006, one of masterpiece was sold for $32,000 at an international
auction.
So why there is suddenly such a huge demand for modern Pakistani art? Well, the reason is that traditional
art collectors have been sidelined by the speculators from the corporate sector. The reason behind the sudden
interest of investors in the Pakistani art is that they believe that investment in art is much more reliable,
secure, and profitable as compared to the traditional stock market and real estate.

HUMAN RESOURCE:
There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that inexpensive human resource can significantly contribute to the
profitability of a company. So if you do a comparison of an engineer or a programmer, you will notice that a
company can get a particular skill set in New York for about $4,000 - $5,000 per month, but the same skill
set can be obtained in the metro cities of Pakistan, like Karachi, Lahore, or Islamabad for approximately
$1,000, or even less. Imagine what a cost saving of 4-5 times can do for a company. Whether, you are looking
for a DBA, or an Oracle developer, or a dot-net programmer, a single advertisement in a local newspaper or a
posting on job websites will bring in hundreds of resumes. In short, there is no shortage of talent in this
country.

TOURISM:
Whether it’s a developed country or a developing country, tourism can prove to be a powerful economy
booster. Overall, tourism industry has been growing steadily as more and more people want to travel and visit
astonishing places. If we look at a decade from 1995 to 2005, the number of tourists increased by 35%. There
was a slight decrease in 2001 and 2003 due to the 11th September incident. In 1996, revenue generated from
tourism was estimated to be at $438 billion. This figure increased by 42% to $623 billion in 2005.
Pakistan is blessed with a wealth of natural scenery including mountains, valleys, sea and rivers, deserts,
valleys, historical, cultural and heritage sites, and archeological sites with last remains of ancient
civilizations. But since promotion of tourism has never been a top priority of the government, this opportunity
is not being capitalized to its full potential.

The foreign tourists arriving in Pakistan grew gradually from 2003 to 2006, touching a record number of
900,000 tourists. Then, it has been on a continuous decline. Revenue being generated from this industry
dropped from $260 million in 2006 to $243 million in 2008.
As per the World Economic Forum, Pakistan has been ranked 113 out of 130 countries in the Travel and
Tourism Competitiveness Report of 2009. In 2008, Pakistan’s position was 111 out of 124 countries. The
reasons mentioned by the report for this poor ranking are country’s inadequate / weak travel and tourism
regulatory framework, low prioritization by the government, poor marketing and branding, and a narrow
perception of travel and tourism in general. The only categories in which Pakistan has achieved a little decent
grade is low fuel prices (36), purchasing power parity (13), effect of taxation (42), heritage and cultural sites
(33), and creative industrial exports (27).
The most sincere effort to promote tourism in Pakistan started from 1970, which Pakistan Tourism
Development Corporation was established to promote tourism with full force. PTDC is a public limited
company registered under the Companies Act. PTDC maintains 20 tourist information centres, owns and
operates 31 motels and facilities in different parts of Pakistan. The stated objectives of PTDC are as follows:
• To develop tourism infrastructure on an all Pakistan basis

• To act as an agent on behalf of the Federal Government for the production of tourist literature and
publicity for tourism both domestically and internationally.
• To act as a catalyst to encourage the private sector to play a more active role in tourism development.
• To undertake tour operations and provide ground handling facilities for group tours.

A lot of work is being done by the federal, provincial and city governments to promote tourism, but to compete
with 130 competitors, a lot still remains to be done at a very quick pace. Infrastructure is one of the most
important elements to boost tourism. As explained earlier, new airports, roads, highways, bridges, motorways,
railroad links are being built to give easy access to domestic as well as foreign tourists to all parts of Pakistan.
Apart from PTDC developing motels and resorts at various places, private sector is playing a very crucial role
by building hotels and resorts for tourists to stay and relax. PTDC is focusing on developing new tourist sites,
which are the secret gems of Pakistan hidden in remote and far flung regions of Pakistan. Cholistan desert
and the city of Bhawalpur are being promoted as desert sites. The Cholistan Desert Jeep Rally was organized
last year, which attracted a lot of visitors from different parts of the world. Due to its immense popularity,
organizers have planned to organize it this year as well. PTDC is also striving to preserve historical and
cultural landmarks, especially in cities like Lahore, Multan, and Bahawalpur.
Hidden opportunities for Pakistan:

Now, we will discuss various types of tourism markets and how can Pakistan benefit from it:
1. Business Markets:-
A lot of businesspeople, professionals, and officials of various governmental as well as non-
governmental organizations visit Pakistan. The most ideal people in this category for any country are
investors, visiting a country to assess the situation and prepare a feasibility report before investing the
money. Currently, Pakistan is attracting people in this category from China, India, UK, USA, UAE, and
Saudi Arabia. As per the recent statistics, business visitors account for approximately 21% of all
visitors coming to Pakistan. To attract people of this category, government should organize trade fairs

and exhibitions. Also, government should organize sports events, like cricket tournaments, boxing
events, swimming competitions, car rallies, athletic competitions, etc etc. Apart from that, government
should also organize cultural and religious festivals and celebrations of national events.
2. Visiting Friends and Relatives:-

Majority of tourists coming to Pakistan come under this category, as 56% tourists belong to this
cateogy. There are 2 major reasons behind it:
a. When sub-continent was split into India and Pakistan, hindus from Pakistan migrated to India
and muslims from India migrated to Pakistan. So a lot of families left their relatives behind. So,
there is frequent traveling of those families back and forth visiting their relatives.
b. A sizable proportion of Pakistanis are living abroad, while their friends, family, and relatives are
in Pakistan. So they travel to Pakistan to visit them once in a while. There is not much the
tourism ministry or PTDC can do to increase the visitors of this category.
3. Leisure:-
This is the most important form of tourism, as it brings in a lot of foreign exchange in the economy, as
well as generates jobs for the locals. This category needs a lot of government’s attention, by developing
infrastructure, resorts and tourist spots, launching marketing and branding campaigns to improve the
image of the country in the eyes of foreigners.
4. Adventure Tourism:-

This is another important category, which includes hiking, mountaineering, rowing, climbing, and
trekking. There is a lot of potential for this kind of tourism in the northern areas of Pakistan, with
mountain ranges, valleys, rivers, and plains.
5. Cultural / Religious / Historical Tourism:-

This is unique selling proposition for various asian countries like Pakistan, India, China, Nepal,
Indonesia, Philippines, etc. Pakistan is composed of diverse cultures, each having their unique way of
life. Also, there are ancient forts, tombs, mausoleums, relics, archeological remains of ancient
civilizations, etc. Government should preserve these historical sites and the last evidence of great
civilizations that have passed through this region.
6. Environmental / Eco-tourism:-
Mostly, nature lovers who travel to exotic places to discover the beauty of nature come under this
category. To attract these kinds of travelers, government should take actions on environmental
preservation and take actions that are polluting or degrading the environment. It is critical to preserve
forests, rivers, lush green plains, snowy mountains etc.

REFERENCES
1. www.tourism.gov.pk
2. http://techlahore.com/
3. PTA – Annual Report 2008-09
4. State Bank of Pakistan – 1st Quarterly Report of 2010
5. The New York Times newspaper
6. www.thenews.com.pk
7. www.dawn.com
8. http://sciencewatch.com/dr/rs/08sep-rs/
9. www.bloomberg.com
10. www.ideaspakistan.gov.pk
11. www.pseb.org.pk
12. www.brandchannel.com
13. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6837585.ece
14. www.thedaily.com.pk
15. www.geo.tv

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COUNTRY BRANDING & PAKISTAN

Why and How a brand of a country impacts its wealth

CONTENTS PAGE NO.

Section 1 – CONCEPT OF BRANDING 4

So what is this Branding phenomena 5

What is Brand Equity and why should we bother about it? 7

To Brand or not to Brand? 8

Section 2 – CONCEPT OF COUNTRY BRANDING 9

What is Country Branding and is it really possible to brand a country? 10

Country Brand v.s. Corporate Brand 12

Challenges of Country Branding 13

Benefits of Country Branding 15

Building a Country Brand 16

Dimensions of a Country Brand 18

Section 3 – EXAMPLES OF COUNTRY BRANDING 20

Section 4 – Country Brand of Pakistan 29

Pakistan – Branding & Re-Branding 30

Information Technology Industry 37

Science & Research 45

Foreign Direct Investment 48

Beta User Pool 51

Hidden Opportunities for Pakistan 58

1. Attribute Æ A brand brings to mind certain attributes.

CONCEPT OF COUNTRY BRANDING

Challenges of Country Branding:

Benefits of Country Branding:

1. Experience Æ It includes perception of tourists, investors, visitors on business or professional visit,

Dimensions of a Country Brand:-

4. Foreign and Domestic Policies:

6. Culture and Heritage:

- Government crushed humongous manufacturing centers being operated by criminals, manufacturing a

COUNTRY BRAND OF PAKISTAN

TUNISIA Agricultural Sciences

NIGERIA Biology & Biochemistry

SERBIA MONTENEG Chemistry

IRAN Clinical Medicine

PAKISTAN Computer Science

U ARAB EMIRATES Economics & Business

PAKISTAN Materials Science

THAILAND Molecular Biology & Genetics

ARMENIA Neuroscience & Behavior

U ARAB EMIRATES Pharmacology & Toxicology

SERBIA MONTENEG Physics

PAKISTAN Plant & Animal Science

TRINID & TOBAGO Psychiatry/Psychology

BRAZIL Social Sciences, general

NAMIBIA Space Science

Foreign Direct Investment:

Beta user Pool:

• To develop tourism infrastructure on an all Pakistan basis

Hidden opportunities for Pakistan:

2. Visiting Friends and Relatives:-

5. Cultural / Religious / Historical Tourism:-

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Country Branding & Pakistan

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