The Bank of China will extend a credit line of 60 billion yuan (8.78 billion dollars) to Aviation Industry Corp. of China, the country's main state-owned aircraft builder, state media said Friday.

Under the agreement signed Friday, the bank pledged to build a "long-term, comprehensive" strategic partnership with AICC and help the group expand overseas, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

AICC on Thursday signed cooperation agreements with 10 Chinese commercial banks, giving it access to credit totalling 176 billion yuan, the report said.

The aircraft conglomerate, which has 200 subsidiaries, was formed on November 8 by the merger of two other companies.

AICC has more than 20 listed companies, total assets of over 290 billion yuan and about 400,000 employees.

China hopes to build an aerospace industry capable of competing with US giant Boeing and Europe's Airbus.