I had breakfast this week with one of my heroes, Saul Singer, who, along with Dan Senor, authored the best selling book on Israel's entrepreneurial culture, StartUp Nation. Saul and Dan single-handedly (or, shall I say, two-handedly) changed Israel's branding globally, framing Israel as a unique, fertile environment for entrepreneurship and breakthrough cross-disciplinary discoveries.

The Welsh brand must be reinvigorated to tackle negative perceptions of the country, Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones told business leaders in London last night. The Assembly Government’s office in London will be overhauled as part of an effort to banish damaging stereotypes and the search is on for a follow- up event to last year’s Ryder Cup.

What started as international elections and campaigning work soon branched out into providing more foreign governments, leaders and bodies, such as tourism and investment authorities, with international communications counsel and ultimately what is now known as "country branding."

Giving a twist to the much-touted race between the Indian elephant versus the Chinese dragon, an eminent expert on 'nations branding' says although China's economy may be far bigger and its military superior, Brand India may just win the game as the world identifies with its values of plurality, diversity and tolerance.

Any defining moment of a year is usually an analysis in past tense. Rarely ever is it a judgment in future tense. But that’s exactly how it is in the case of Qatar successfully bidding in 2010 to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. While winning the bid is victory enough to become a defining moment for the present, the real impact lies in what this success could do for the Gulf in general and for Qatar in particular over the next decade and beyond.

Some 16,000 foreign guests are expected to come Bangladesh to see the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup matches. The host countries -- Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka -- are now busy giving a facelift to the tournament venues. But this mega event is especially significant for Bangladesh. This is the first time the country is going to co-host the cricket world cup.

But think of modern Egypt, and images of poverty, corruption and an often-repressive military regime are more likely to come up. Last June, the country’s Ministry of Information hired one of the largest public relations agencies in the world in a bid to change that.