The 12-member troupe Le-Ziaval will perform at Lusophone Cultural Festival on December 3, becoming the first Timorese artists to participate in the event, organisers said on Monday.

Joao Paulo Baptista, coordinator of the Le-Ziaval group who flew from Dili on Monday to perform, told the Independente: “we feel honoured to show our country’s creativity.”

Some 70 artists from the community of Portuguese language countries will participate in the festival.

Goa has had historically linkages with the Lusophone world, which has been nurtured through the presence of Portuguese cultural institutions like the Orient Foundation and the Camoes Institute which promote Portuguese language and culture in India.

Le Ziaval’s participation in the festival was funded by the government of India.