MUMBAI: This year the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards will be held in Colombo from 2 to 4 July.
Announcing the awards iterinary, the country‘s Minister for Tourism, Achala Jagoda said that out of the several countries that had evinced interest to host the event, Sri Lanka finally got the nod.
The minister hailed it as an international achievement, and added that several events such as an Indian business meeting would be held on the sidelines of IIFA.
The IIFA Awards, are presented annually by the International Indian Film Academy to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in Bollywood, the Hindi language film industry.
Instituted in 2000, the ceremony is held in different countries around the world every year. The first ceremony was held in London at The Millennium Dome. From then on the awards were held at locations around the world signifying the international purpose of Hindi cinema.
It has been held in South Africa (twice), Malaysia, Singapore, The Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, England, Thailand and Macau.
While Sri Lanka will host the event in 2010, the 2011 event will be held in Toronto.
