Sri Lanka to host International Indian Film Academy Awards in July

Colombo, Mar. 26 (ANI): The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards will be held this year at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium in Colombo from July 2 to July 4.

The country"s Minister for Tourism, Achala Jagoda, revealed that several countries had competed to host the event, but Sri Lanka finally got the nod.

Jagoda described it as an international achievement, and added that several events such as an Indian business meeting, would be held on the event"s sidelines.

The International Indian Film Academy (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 is expected to be held in Toronto.(ANI)