Sana Imran is of Pakistan origin and pursuing her Doctorate Degree in Marketing/Economics from Azerbaijan. She has rich experience of teaching Economics related subjects in numerous well-reputed universities of Pakistan and Azerbaijan. She holds Masters in Business Administration with major in Marketing from Iqra University of Pakistan. Her research interests include ‘Marketing Management’ with focus on ‘Branding and the Evolving Global Challenges of Marketing’. Currently, she is associated with Khazar University of Azerbaijan as a Marketing Professor.
In her exclusive video interview for Eurasia Diary, Sana Imran spoke about her reflections on Azerbaijan, sharing how her opinion has evolved during her stay in the ‘Land of Fire’. She also elucidated the salient aspects of her resent research work titled “The Role of Brands in Construction of National Identity”, where she chose Azerbaijan and its national brands as her specific area.
Answering the questing about her reflections about Azerbaijan, Sana Imran said that together with family she arrived here three years ago. She finds Azerbaijan as a lovely place, where people are highly cordial and hospitable. “Azerbaijan is safe, secure, peaceful, stable and fast developing Muslim country, which is blessed with natural beauty, rich history and cultural diversity. Despite the language barrier, we could easily absorb the cultural shock, when we arrived here. This was possible due to warm hospitality of Azerbaijani people. In fact, we quickly integrated into Azerbaijani society”, said Sana Imran.
“Azerbaijan is also very peaceful, steady, progressing fast and well developing Muslim country. If you look at the economy of Azerbaijan, initially it was driven by oil revenues but with the recent initiatives of Government to develop non-oil sectors and diversify the economy, things have grossly improved”, she added.
Sana Imran is the spouse of a diplomat from Pakistan’s Embassy at Baku. While accompanying her husband at many diplomatic receptions here in Azerbaijan, Sana Imran interacts with many state officials, notable locals and diplomats. “All foreign diplomats, their opinions and impressions about Azerbaijan are encouragingly positive. As for me, pluralism and multiculturalists approach is the greatest strength of Azerbaijan that works in this competitive extremist world, which we have around us”, added Sana Imran.
The location of country at the crossroads of Southwest Asia and Southeast Europe makes it geo-strategically important for region and the globe. Azerbaijan is a stable economy, primarily driven by oil revenues but the recent initiatives to jack up the non-oil sectors are really commendable. Similarly the ongoing pace of developments in the tourism and industrial sectors is also appreciable. Pluralism and multi-culturist orientation are the greatest strengths of Azerbaijani society that distinguish it from all other Muslim nations.
Talking about the Pakistani-Azerbaijan relations and similarities between two countries, Sana Imran mentioned that these two are very close brotherly nations.
“Since the independence of modern Azerbaijan in 1991, Pakistan and Azerbaijan enjoy excellent political relations. Pakistan was amongst the first countries to recognize Azerbaijan. Pakistani Senate was the first to condemn and term Khojalay massacre as ‘Genocide’. Pakistan is the only country that has not established diplomatic relations with Armenia, due to illegal occupation of Azerbaijani lands in Nagorno Karabakh region” said Sana Imran.
She is sure that people of brotherly Muslim countries find very close to each other. “Pakistanis regard their Azeri brothers in a high esteem. Similarly, the same cordiality is experienced by Pakistanis, when they visit or stay in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan and Pakistan share historical bonds, cultural affinities and social likenesses”.
“Existence of excellent political relations at the top level, the chemistry between the top leadership and the confidence between the common masses are essentially important for any relationships. And fortunately, all these three ingredients are absolutely available when it comes to the relations between Azerbaijan and Pakistan. I see a lot of trust and confidence between two nations and it is gaining strength every passing day”, said Sana Imran.
Sana Imran also spoke about her recent research paper, where she has chosen Azerbaijan and its national brands as her specific area of research. She tries to draw the relationship between brands and how those can be used as soft power tools to strengthen the national identity and subsequently the national image. She also evaluates the perception of local brands against the foreign brands.
“I chose Azerbaijan for my research, because this country is getting known to the world every passing day, because of its developing economy, cultural diversity and hosting of mega events like European Games, Formula 1 Racing, Islamic Solidarity Games and Eurovision Song Contest etc. Such achievements need to be publicized at all levels. Moreover in Azerbaijan, there is lot of scope of nation branding. In my research, I want to see, how brands can strengthen the national identity and the national image. Azerbaijani government leadership is focusing on this area and they want to promote Azerbaijani nationality on its own, which talks about civic nationalism, secularism and multiculturalism. So, it gives me a right platform to explore my work” explained Sana Imran.
For her research she developed survey questions that were filled by people from different regions of Azerbaijan. She also conducted interviews with several organizations and companies like ASAN Khidmet, Azersun, Astra Tea, AZPROMO and Center for Strategic Studies (SAM).
Sana Imran also spoke about the national brands of Azerbaijan, which she has incorporated in her research work.
“As for now there are not so many national brands in Azerbaijan. However, I am very optimistic that with recent initiatives, which are aimed on diversification of economy, there will be many more products and services that can be used for national branding techniques. In my research paper, I have selected ASAN Khidmet from the service sector and Tea Industry from the manufacturing sector. Both industries have the potential to become iconic brands of Azerbaijan.
In addition to that Azerbaijan has a lot of heritage brands, for example pomegranate, Mugham and Carpets etc. The recent developments in tourism and hosting of mega events have also become a trade mark of Azerbaijan. These can also be used as primary branding technique for a long while. Apart from that, I also see that SOCAR is carrying the flag of Azerbaijan to many regions of the world. Then Heydar Aliyev Foundation, which is involved in a lot of cultural activities to project the soft image of Azerbaijan. In private sector, there are companies such as Pasha Group, Gilan Holdinq, Azersun Holdinq, which are doing a lot of good work to promote the national brands of Azerbaijan”, Sana Imran added towards the conclusion.
Interviewed by Anastasia Lavrina
