Coffee and Honey Are Yemen’s Gift to the World

National Yemen

Asma al-Mohattwari

Expo Milano 2015 Organizer Company, an Italian tourism company, has chosen Yemen to participate in their Milano Exhibition. Yemen selected its theme, Mocha Coffee and Sidr Honey: Yemen’s Gift to the World, symbolizing coffee and honey within a social, economic and cultural framework that tell a story of success, failure, and hope.

This past week, Yemen participated in the Rimini Italian Exhibition for the first time. Participation of Yemen in Rimini exhibition was not just to offer products, but it was able to get rid of all barriers and obstacles that stand in the way of tourism in Yemen. With Yemen’s security situation and terrorist operations, the Yemeni tourism sector has deteriorated, but participation in exhibitions such as these will help tourism in Yemen recover.

The Executive Director of the Tourism Promotion Board, Fatima al-Houribi, stressed the importance of Yemen’s participation in the Milano Exhibition, which devotes attention to nine economic areas, the most important being tourism, agriculture, production, cash crops, fruit crops, fishery products, and coffee.

Yemen’s role in the commercialization of this product is often not recognized, and Expo Milano 2015 will provide a chance to show visitors the significance of Yemen’s historical impact on international trade in terms of how its coffee beans were distributed to the rest of the world. The pavilion also highlights the link between the scientific classification of coffee (Arabica) and the brand name Mocha with Yemen. The second part of the theme, Sidr honey, refers to a type of honey produced in Yemen, renowned for its flavor and medicinal qualities. Sidr honey is one of the most prized gifts and represents an expression of gratitude and appreciation among Yemeni citizens.

The pavilion reflects Yemen’s traditional taste and the cultural and social settings where coffee is cultivated. In addition, it features the traditional tools used to dry and roast coffee beans.

Guests can learn about Yemeni coffee through pictures and films portraying how the coffee is grown. Visitors can purchase souvenirs, take home coffee recipes, and have a chance to become acquainted and taste different varieties of Mocha coffee including those from the regions of Matari, Yafei, Harazi, Ismaeli, and Hamadi.

Randa Khaled, Chief Executive Officer of the World of Tourism Italian company, said that the choice of coffee and honey will enable Yemen to register a strong presence in the Expo and it will help economic development. “The terrain environment in Yemen provides the right conditions for the cultivation of various agricultural products. Agriculture is considered the main source of Yemen’s prosperity over the past 3000 years, and this country with a rich history and saturated with myth and fantasy, constructed several civilizations, including the civilization of Queen Sheba, which linked global trade between East and West.

The exhibition is organized by World of Tourism Italian company and is held every five years. It is expected to be held in Dubai in 2016 and is one of the largest and most important economic events and to be visited by more than 20 million visitors from all over the world.

The exhibition represents an opportunity to exchange experiences and products and to find chances for export, supply, demand and import of various products in nine areas.