Participants will come from Belgium, Brazil, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Israel, the Philippines, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand and Vietnam.

According to Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh, deputy head of the Art Performance Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, five Vietnamese troupes will perform at the festival. They are the Central Puppet Theatre, the Thang Long Puppet Theatre, and the puppet troupes of Hai Phong, Dak Lak and Ho Chi Minh City.

Each troupe will bring to the festival a performance programme from 30-40 minutes. There are seven genres up for competition, including water, rod, string, hand and shadow puppetry.