Seoul (South Korea) will host the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards in 2010.

'It is expected to draw hundreds of India's [ Images ] leading actors, actresses and filmmakers', according to South Korea's leading daily JoongAng Ilbo's English edition, JoongAng Daily.

Starting with London [ Images ] (United Kingdom) in 2000, these annual Awards events have been held in South Africa [ Images ], Malaysia, Singapore, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates [ Images ], Thailand, People's Republic of China and are announced to be held in Canada [ Images ] (Toronto) in June 2011.

IIFA Awards are said to recognise, honour and celebrate the achievements of India's film industry. It claims to attract a worldwide television audience of over 350 million.

Seoul has been described by Lonely Planet as a "fashion-filled" city that "vibrates with energy night and day" and South Korea as "a country of endless possibilities".

Mumbai [ Images ] based IIFA endeavours to promote Indian cinema and showcase its talent globally. Its founder-directors are Andre Timmins, Viraf Sarkari, and Sabbas Joseph. Its Advisory Board boasts of big Bollywood names: Amitabh Bachchan [ Images ] (Brand Ambassador), David Dhawan [ Images ], J.P. Dutta, Jaya Bachchan, Karan Johar [ Images ], Manmohan Shetty, Pahlaj Nihalani, Ramesh Sippy [ Images ], Shyam Shroff, and Vinod Khanna [ Images ].

Image: Bipasha Basu [ Images ] at the 10th edition of the International Indian Film Academy in Macau, China.

Photograph: Siu Chiu/ Reuters