Tuesday, 23 March 2010

The Phnom Penh Post News in Brief


via CAAI News Media

Riel 30th anniversary

Tuesday, 23 March 2010 15:00 Nguon Sovan

HUNDREDS of bankers, economists and historians joined the National Bank of Cambodia on Monday to mark the 30th anniversary of the country’s post-Khmer Rouge currency, the riel. Cambodia produced its first currency in the 16th century to promote trade with other nations, National Bank Governor Chea Chanto told an audience of around 600 people in Chaktomuk Conference Hall. As a French protectorate, Cambodia shared an Indochinese currency with Vietnam and Laos. After gaining independence in 1953, Cambodia established a national bank and printed riel notes, but these were abolished — along with the banking system — under the Khmer Rouge. The reintroduction of the riel after the regime fell was “part of a building up of sovereignty and the state’s economic power”, Chea Chanto said.

Tourism board proposal

Tuesday, 23 March 2010 15:00 May Kunmakara

THE Cambodia Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Project is to hold a workshop today to discuss the benefits of a tourism marketing board. The Phnom Penh workshop, which is to be held at the Hotel Intercontinental on Monivong Boulevard, will examine best practices in establishing a tourism board for Cambodia, a body that thus far does not exist in the Kingdom but which analysts say could help promote Cambodia as a tourist destination. “The most effective marketing and promotions boards are those with some form of public-private partnership, which ensures that private sector consumer expertise and business practices are harnessed for destination marketing purposes, while ensuring this drive ‘fits’ with the government’s broader tourism policy,” Curtis Hundley, Chief of Party for USAID's Cambodia MSME Project, said in a statement released on Monday. The one-day workshop will gather hoteliers, tour operators, travel agents, airline representatives and tourism associations, among other concerned parties.

16 Omlaing commune villagers summonsed

Tuesday, 23 March 2010 15:04 May Titthara

Kampong Speu’s provincial court on Monday summonsed 16 village representatives from Omlaing commune, Thpong district, after an office belonging to the Phnom Penh Sugar Company was torched on March 18, a village representative told the Post on Monday. About 100 soldiers have been sent to guard the disputed land, which is part of a 9,000-hectare concession granted to the Phnom Penh Sugar Company, owned by Cambodian People’s Party Senator Ly Yong Phat. 62-year-old You Thou, a council member for Omlaing commune and one of the 16 summonsed to court, said that it’s his second time being summonsed and that the court has ordered him to appear on March 24 due to a complaint filed by Chhean Kimsuon, a representative of Phnom Penh Sugar Company.

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