As the key agricultural product, accounting for a large proportion of Dak Lak’s gross social product and annual export turnover, coffee beans today are not only economically valuable but also have historical and cultural mark  of the land through over hundred years of history.

Through 6 times of organization, Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival has maximized local resources in building and enhancing economic value, promoting the brand of Buon Ma Thuot Coffee as well as Vietnamese coffee to domestic and foreign tourists; expanding and developing cooperation and economic and cultural exchanges in production, processing, export and domestic consumption; honoring coffee growers and traders; introducing and promoting the unique culture of the Central Highlands peoples; actively contributing to the sustainable development orientation of Vietnam's coffee sector. Each path, Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival has left its own mark on the journey to conquer the world coffee community.

The Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival was firstly organized in 2005, marking the turning point of the coffee sector in association with the geographical indication "Buôn Ma Thuột Coffee” which was granted by the National Office of Intellectual Property - Ministry of Science and Technology. The Festival attracted over 300,000 visitors; 106 domestic and foreign enterprises with more than 400 booths at the coffee Specialized Exhibition. Also from this Festival, the province has focused on developing and spreading the geographical indication of Buon Ma Thuot Coffee.

The 2^nd Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival in 2008, with a larger scale, attracted 350 thousand visitors; 145 enterprises with over 450 booths at the Coffee Specialized Exhibition. The Festival paid special attention to promoting and popularizing the coffee culture on the basis of exploiting economic value in the chain of coffee culture activities.

The 3^rd Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival in 2011 was recognized by the Prime Minister as a National Festival, attracting hundreds of thousands of domestic and foreign visitors. The Coffee Specialized Exhibition attracted 185 participating units, with 650 booths, including 17 foreign enterprises with 50 booths; the international visitors to the Festival were more crowded than ever with the presence of international agencies (15 Embassies and Consulates General, 10 prestigious international organizations for coffee and finance of the world; international press agencies, etc.)

The 4^th Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival in 2013 with many special programs and contents, bold cultural identity of ethnic minority groups in general and Dak Lak in particular, achieved the goals and requirements as constantly striving to build, improve, develop sustainably and creatively the economic value and spirit of coffee culture; promoting the brand of Buon Ma Thuot and Vietnamese coffee; expanding and developing cooperation and economic and cultural exchanges in coffee production, processing and export, etc.

The 5^th Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival, in 2015 with the theme: "Buon Ma Thuot - Historic Spring Roads" aimed to continue promoting Vietnamese coffee brands, especially honoring coffee growers and promoting the coffee tourism culture represented by Buon Ma Thuot - the place with the largest coffee productivity and production area compared to other regions in the country. The Coffee Specialized Exhibition had a total of 710 booths of 230 participating enterprises, especially of which there were 90 booths of 22 foreign enterprises. Besides, the Central Highlands wooden folk statue carving competition had the participation of 37 elite artists from the Central Highlands provinces, etc.

The 6^th Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival, 2017 integrated with the Central Highlands Gong Culture Festival with active participation of the people as the subject of the Festival had truly become the big festival of ethnic minorities in Dak Lak as well as in the Central Highlands. Highlight activities were the Central Highlands Investment Promotion Conference, 2017 with investment orientations coupled with improving investment efficiency in society, associated with social security activities; the signing ceremony of investment credit cooperation between credit institutions and localities and enterprises with a total capital of VND 29,000 billion for 36 projects; awarded investment certificates to 14 projects with a total committed investment capital of nearly 4 billion USD.

In addition, the Central Highlands Gong Cultural Festival with 6 main contents attracted nearly 600 domestic and foreign artists bringing many high-value art products, contributing to improve awareness of preserving and promoting the value of the Central Highlands’ Gong Cultural Space in the context of international integration. The Festival achieved the following objectives: Promoting the brand of Buon Ma Thuot Coffee; enhancing the value of the coffee sector for producers and traders in Dak Lak province as well as the whole country; raising awareness and actions of the community on the preservation, introduction and promotion of the Gongs Cultural Space of the Central Highlands; promoting and introducing the provincial images, potentials and strengths to invite and promote big investment projects in the province.

Inheriting and promoting the achievements of six past Festival, the 7^th Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival, 2019 will take place from March 9^th to March 16^th, 2016 with the theme "Quintessence of the Jungle". With 6 main groups of activities, the 7^th Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival, 2019 aims to continue promoting the brand of Buon Ma Thuot Coffee, raising the value and affirming the position of Vietnamese coffee in the international market. In particular, this Festival focuses on promoting Vietnamese specialty coffee, gradually bringing Buon Ma Thuot to become the destination of world coffee.

Source:baodaklak.vn