Australia to give $1 million to Angkor temples

The Federal Government says it will contribute $1 million towards a scheme to protect Cambodia's Angkor Wat temples.

The world-famous temple complex in Siem Reap province is visited by thousands of tourists each day.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr is in Cambodia on his first trip overseas since being sworn into his new role and says the funding will help preserve the 700-year-old monuments in the area.

"We're going to take the experience Australians gain managing Uluru and other world heritage sites, and see that in this great site," Mr Carr said.

"[It's] important to the whole world that there is a proper management of the tourist pressures, that the area's not going to be trampled to death, and that there's going to be protection from the damage that could be done by floods."

Senator Carr says the scheme will also ensure money from Angkor tourism reaches the hands of poor locals.
Senator Carr has also visited the Fred Hollows Foundation facility in Cambodia, which gets $6 million from AusAID to train local doctors and nurses to remove cataracts.

He will also visit Vietnam and Singapore on the trip.