ISLAMABAD: Our neighbours are realising the value of advertising. Pakistan federal minister for information and broadcasting (I&B) Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has asked advertising agencies to play a larger role in the image building of the country, aimed at meeting the future challenges and attracting foreign direct investment. The minister was presiding over the inaugural session of 'Round Table Conference on Advertising in Pakistan'.

The meet was attended by I&B ministry secretaries, director generals of the national broadcasters and representatives of the ad associations and accredited advertising agencies from Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.

Minister Ahmed urged the ad agencies to work for promoting Pakistan as a moderate, liberal and progressive state in the world. He added that ad agencies would promote marketing values along with code of ethics for the betterment of the society.

The minister also reassured the gathering and stated that the government would try to resolve their problems at the earliest.

Regarding licensing for private television channels, he said the government would grant licences to private companies for setting up private channels aimed at promoting healthy competition in the field of electronic media.

Ahmed said many companies had approached the government for setting up channels including a private channel, Star Pakistan, which would be a purely Pakistani channel. "CNN and BBC have also talked about their Urdu service," the minister disclosed.

The ministry officials also called upon owners of advertising agencies to make a code of ethics to discourage gloomy advertising in electronic as well as print media.