The first-ever Conference on Re-building the Northern and Eastern Provinces (NEP) of Sri Lanka took place in Toronto, Canada on 16-17 January 2017 with the support of Diaspora Community – Bridge Builders. More than 200 personnel including Provincial Council Ministers, Members and Secretaries, Heads of Departments, Diaspora’s Sectoral experts, Members of Diaspora’s Organizations and well-wishers from different countries contributed the conference. The purpose of the conference was to look into ways to address both immediate and long-term development needs in education, health and economy.As an action from the conference, the North and East Economic Development (NEED) Centre was established in September 2017.