On Jan. 8, an official signing ceremony of ARJ21-700 procurement agreement was held in Vientiane, Laos, marking a major milestone in the overseas market development of China's homegrown ARJ21 regional jet project. Sources told CARNOC.com that the agreement involves Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) selling 2 ARJ21-700 jets to Lao Airlines, the first foreign client for COMAC's ARJ21 project.

It's understood by CARNOC.com that the ARJ21-700 is the first new turbofan regional aircraft independently developed by China with complete independent intellectual property rights. The ARJ21 project was originally approved by China's State Council in April 2002. Moreover, the first aircraft of the project was rolled out in December 2007.

Photograph: The official Lao Airlines-COMAC ARJ21-700 procurement agreement signing ceremony was held in Vientiane, Laos, and attended by various high-profile government officials and company executives on Jan. 8, 2010.