Last month Baku, the beautiful capital city of Azerbaijan, became the PR capital of five more countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The event, hosted by the Azerbaijan Public Relations Specialists Association (APRA) was the 1st Baku Forum of PR specialists from Turkic-speaking countries. It gathered over 200 PR ambassadors from the region and served as an interactive forum to share best practices, to build personal networks, and to discuss practical ways to tap new opportunities. I believe all participants will have found this forum, like I did, to be both insightful and valuable.
Increasing PR relevance
In a region where paid advertising is significantly larger than PR budgets, the PR industry is flourishing. Moreover it is successfully navigating through the challenges of a changing world such as digitalization, fake news, and artificial intelligence.
“APRA works consistently towards increasing the relevance of PR in Azerbaijan and in the region,” says APRA chairman Ilham Mammadov. “One of the ways to achieve this is through our cooperation with IPRA. Its Global World Award’s programme, for example, is a great opportunity for the PR talent of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to be recognised at the international level.”