IPPA (International Pakistan Prestige Awards) held a press conference earlier on Friday to announce the fifth IPPA scheduled for Dallas, Texas, USA, in July this year. The event was well-attended by celebrities, socialites and media personnel. The programme kick-started with a bustling red carpet where celebs, particularly those who have been part of previous IPPAs voiced their excitement and shared their previous experiences. After Tilawat-e-Quran by Saud Qasmi and national anthem, the host of the evening, Shanaz Ramzi, who has been an integral part of IPPA from the first awards, doing its PR and coordination, welcomed the guests and expressed her delight that her company has been associated for more than five years with IPPA, the only independent Pakistani awards that has consistently been doing successful shows abroad. A presentation was shown featuring excerpts from the previous IPPAs, which was extremely well-received. She then read out a message from co-founder IPPA, Ali Malik, who could not attend the conference as he is currently in Manchester for another event. The message read “It gives me the utmost pleasure to announce the fifth IPPA, after successfully holding it consistently in different parts of the world. Our vision was to project a positive image of Pakistan abroad and we have been successful in doing that by showcasing our talent in the field of drama, films, music and fashion. I am delighted to announce that the next IPPA will be in the US, and we are joining hands with a seasoned US-based company to execute the event. I am grateful to HUM TV, all our partners, sponsors and of course our highly talented artistes who have been supporting us from day one, and continue to do so to date. Let’s make the fifth IPPA rock!” Co-founder IPPA, Mukhtar Ahmed then addressed the audience and expressed his pride and joy in announcing that after four consistent, successful IPPAs they were now joining hands with Azhar Zaidi, aka AZ, who runs AZ Entertainment, a highly successful US-based company to host the fifth IPPA in Dallas, Texas, on July 23, 2022. He said, “It is a very ambitious move on our part, but we are confident that together, we will pull it off! Our objective of taking IPPA to different parts of the world is not just to project our marvellous talent but also to strengthen Pakistan’s ties with the country hosting us. We hope to increase trade and export our talent to these places once they are exposed to what we have to offer.” A presentation of the highlights of the impressive work done by AZ Entertainment was then shown, before inviting Azhar Zaidi to the stage. He said, “I am delighted to be joining hands this time with IPPA to host the fifth IPPA in Dallas. We have a huge Pakistani diaspora there and as you have just seen, and we are very comfortable pulling of mammoth shows in Dallas. I am confident that with our combined efforts we will be able to make the next IPPA even more successful than the previous ones, Inshallah!” After the speech, Mukhtar Ahmed and Azhar Zaidi posed for a photograph holding between them a specially designed memento with the IPPA award in the centre of the base and the flags of Pakistan and USA on either side. Celebrities who have been part of IPPA earlier, or hope to be this time round, were then invited to come to the stage and air their experiences/emotions one-by-one. The floor was then opened for questions and answers after which refreshments were served.