 Hi, my name is Jose Bacila. I'm the pavilion director at the Guatemala pavilion and Welcome the Guatemala pavilion. It's like a museum like an art gallery So we're focusing ourselves in it to be to look like an art gallery as you can see you can go through each way And it's basically a museum We wanted to show the world how Guatemala is important in tourism in investment and in trade Guatemala exports cardamom and coffee to the region So we had a lot of cardamom and we also have a lot of coffee But we also wanted to show the world that Guatemala is more than just cardamom and more than just coffee So we're promoting artists, emerging artists, entrepreneurs, SMEs, big companies, small companies, medium companies So the whole idea is to promote Guatemala as more than just a tourist destination Guatemala shows the world, you know you see volcanoes, weaving, we have very nice artists like Rosana Lagos for instance Who is doing some art on acrylic, on ostrich eggs, always focusing of course on the Guatemalan theme And then one of the things that are very well known as well are chairs If you can see our chairs are like people love our chairs These are also handmade back home in Guatemala and they resemble a Guatemalan huipil As you can see they're all different and they show Guatemalan huipil which is the traditional clothing of women back home in Guatemala As you can see our pavilion is very very colorful which of course represents our country On the walls you'll see different exportable offer that Guatemala has And of course there's more artists like Diana Fernandez, then we have Denise Mesa as well and then Moom ceramics They're all very famous emerging Guatemalan plastic artists and painters One of the most important walls of course is this wall which is the coffee wall Guatemala exports coffee, one of the best coffees around the world So we're wanting to promote coffee around the world How is it the best coffee in the world? So it is the best coffee because I'm from Guatemala and I think it's the best coffee But also Guatemala has we always win cup of excellence and different rewards and awards around the world Regarding how good our coffee is because of the altitude and because Guatemala is a volcanic country We have 33 volcanoes which of course gives the coffee plantations a different taste And it has been rewarded for it being one of the best coffees in the world among other Latin American and African countries So how much coffee do you produce? So we produce like a lot tons, it's around 2% of the world's exports It's not a lot but it's one of the best qualities And as you can see on this side we also produce cardamom Cardamom is a green spice and it is, we produce 70 to 85 depending on the year percent of the world's cardamom We don't consume cardamom but we do produce cardamom which is very important for us And then this is also Mayu ceramics which are some ceramics made in Lake Atitlán by some entrepreneurs and indigenous communities And we're also trying to promote ceramics around the world On this side we have Victoria Murga which is Vito Murga She's a plastic artist as well back home in Guatemala And she's doing some interventions with chairs and spheres as you can see on this side And then we're also promoting Guatemala as a kaleidoscope of colors and cultures We have the African American culture back home or African Guatemalan culture which are called Garifunas The indigenous communities, the indigenous religion as well Mayan culture is very important for us So we're trying to promote that as well among other artists as well Which are on this side you'll see Katya Miranda She's doing everyday objects on this side and then Mayu ceramics as well One of the most important things you'll see in our pavilion is also this dress which is very colorful It's by Eduardo Figueroa one of the most famous Guatemalan fashion designers And he kindly gave us this amazing dress which people really love And on the back you'll see Antigua Guatemala and our flag of course But Antigua Guatemala was the old capital of Guatemala And as you can see here it's one of the main streets of Antigua with Santa Catarina arc on the middle Which is also this city was destroyed by a volcano earthquake eruption several years ago Of course 100 years ago and as you can see it as well here on the video This is the volcano that erupted when this happened Then you'll see more emerging artists on this side On this side we have Belula hats and shadow bags and tux All of them are also emerging artists and fashion designers back home in Guatemala Everything again very colorful On this side our national bear which we are very proud of Because it shows liberty and freedom, expresses liberty and freedom This bird can only live in freedom and liberty You cannot have him on a cage or he'll die So this is why it is our national bird Tel Mespina who is a very famous fashion designer back home in Guatemala She loves doing interventions between modernity and Mayan culture and Mayan textiles as well And on this side we have Haspe which is another fashion designer Her name is Victoria Murga as well but her brand is Haspe And last but not least we have Amala's swimwear which are these two By Ana Rivera she's doing some bathing suits And then again we're promoting coffee which is very important for us We're having some coffee tasting starting at the end of November And then our shop which is basically all samples of Guatemalan products Again some bags by shadow bags, some coffee which is very important for us Some other fashion designers, belula hats again, eco filter, coffee again, cardamom And of course our rum which is one of the most famous rums in the world So people can come here to Dubai World Expo and buy this one They can come and they can check them out and with the QR codes all around the shop You can buy them through the QR codes And then it gets shipped worldwide Yeah exactly Alright, that's how it works So in terms of the industry and the development of the what's it called economy Guatemala, how is it going? So Guatemala is a very very stable country in Latin America Actually through the pandemic Guatemala showed to be the most stable country economically wise At the end economically it was very very stable which was great for us And this is a great opportunity for us for investment So lots of Latin American countries, lots of European countries are investing in Guatemala Because of its macro and micro economic stability which is great for us Some other countries in Latin America were very very highly affected economically by the pandemic And thank God it didn't happen to Guatemala because of its economic stability The problem that happens is when during this strange time that the travels are kind of blocked and stuff Yes, tourism is important Tourism is huge, it's very important for us Which was of course it really affected the tourism industry back home in Guatemala But thank God Guatemala opened its border very very soon We opened our borders in August, September more or less So this led us to have you know this was a great opportunity for us To have more tourism starting September, October Which is great And also you know in exports and imports were very big as well so this helped a lot There's a lot of things to do for the tourism Yes, of course, you know we're divided The country is 108,000 kilometers square It's small or big depending on how you see it We have 15 to 17 million people living in Guatemala We have so many tourist destinations There you can see Guatemala City as an investment destination We have Tikal which is the capital of the Mayans, sorry And then we have the colonial cities, we have the Mayan heritage We have natural adventures, so it's great It's a small country with very very different destinations to visit There is a lot of trade happening with Europe Yes, actually our biggest trade partners are the US Of course Canada, Mexico and some Latin American countries And with Europe of course we have Spain, Germany, Italy, Belgium as well The Netherlands is a very important trade country And in the Middle East Saudi Arabia and the UAE are the most important countries Related to trade especially with cardamom and coffee So it's correct to say that you also focus a lot on exporting the art The artist's work, that's what it looks like because you're featuring a lot of artists This is what we're focusing on, so yes, so no, as of today, no We're not exporting art, you know, like the artwork yet But we wanted to take advantage of Expo as a platform to start promoting our artists And to see that Guatemala is not only the agri business But there's more than that, and you know, there's textiles, there's manufacture There's artists, there's painters, there's photographers, famous photographers as well There's jewelry, this is an amazing piece of artwork By a Guatemalan artist, Alan Ben-Shuam And he's a photographer and he's an amazing artist And he was taking pictures of all these doors back home in Guatemala and around the world And he did this amazing piece of art, which I love And it's one of them, you know, most people love it And this is what we want to promote, you know, like people usually don't think of Guatemala As a destination for art industry And on this side you'll see Anielca Palacios She's an AA collection and she's doing some jewelry as well Which is very famous among, in Latin America as of today And we want to promote her as an emerging artist in the jewelry area And also one thing that I didn't mention before is that all the pictures you see around the pavilion Are taken by famous Guatemalan photographers as well And also the ones that you see outside the pavilion So it's also a piece of art because it was taken by famous Guatemalan photographers On this side we have Vessel Collection by Lisa Carrillo She's also a Guatemalan artist And on this specific dress she's focusing herself on Carlos Merida, who was a Guatemalan artist as well So she's an emerging, more than an emerging, she's already an established fashion designer She's based in Mexico but she's Guatemalan and she sent us many pieces of her collection as well Alright, alright, so how's it going with the expo? So we're very happy, we're having between 800 to 1000 visitors every day, which is great for us We are an assisted pavilion and we thank the UAE and Dubai and the expo organization for it So for us, it's been great for us to have 1000 people every day knowing that Guatemala is a country in Central America Is already a great opportunity for them to understand Guatemala, to know Guatemala And to place Guatemala on a map, that's already a win-win for ourselves Can you say something about the partnership, the UAE or the region here? Are they investing or something? So this is what we're promoting, Guatemala opened its embassy in November 2019 And the idea for us for opening an embassy in the UAE in Abu Dhabi was because of expo So yes, we want to promote exports, we want to attract investment from the region, from the Gulf region, from the UAE From Saudi, from Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the whole Gulf region So this is what we're focusing on and we think of expo as a great opportunity, as a great platform to attract investment back home There's no direct flight yet, right? No, it is something we're also working on, as of today we don't have any direct flights from Dubai or the region to Guatemala But we do have direct flights from the region to New York, Miami, Houston and Dallas And from there, you have direct flights back home to Guatemala So there's some co-sharing happening as of today But still, you know, we're working on it, we want some cargo for it to happen We want some cargo from Etihad, we want cargo from Dubai, from Emirates So we'll see, inshallah some day It might happen soon, right? Inshallah Direct flights from Europe? Yes, we have direct flights from Madrid as of today Which is our main partner back, you know, Spain and Guatemala have such a straight connection Close connections, so yes, we have direct flights from Spain And we're promoting, you know, after COVID, we're promoting international flights again from other European countries And for Europeans or Americans to come, it's an affordable holiday, no? Of course, it's always an affordable holiday, it's an amazing holiday The weather in Guatemala is the best weather in the world And you'll see in such an all year round, you have between 19 to 28 degrees Celsius the whole year Of course, in the coast you have a bit hotter and the mountains a bit colder But all year round, it's great weather So I totally welcome you to come to Guatemala I encourage Europeans and Americans and Canadians to come to Guatemala It's a great destination for investment, for trade and for tourism, definitely And also inviting the Guatemalans to travel everywhere Yes, of course Is a visa free travel to many countries? Yeah, Guatemala has a very good, very strong passport So we can travel to Europe without a visa We can travel to so many countries without a visa And also many countries can travel to Guatemala without the need of a visa