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Simon Bell, previously a Director on A.T. Kearney’s Global Business Policy Council, addressed a LKI Foreign Policy Round Table on 23 January 2018, where he spoke on “Building a Country Brand: International Experiences and Implications for Sri Lanka.”

Mr. Bell’s presentation highlighted that creating a country brand requires time and that it is important to build a strong brand capable of subsuming negative publicity which citizens could live up to. He outlined the key components for this process, including; brand image consistency, a policy environment that matches the brand, and inter-agency coordination in and between the government and private sector. Mr. Bell further emphasised that the cost of building a country brand does not have to be very high, but stressed that a steady flow of finances from an independent entity is necessary to maintain the country brand even through political cycles.

The round table was attended by representatives of the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Finance, Office of National Unity and Reconciliation, Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade, Export Development Board, the private sector, think tanks and other international and national organisations.

Click here for the key takeaways from the round table.