Bank of China Ltd and China Daily on Wednesday signed a strategic cooperation agreement that will see the pair promote China's opening-up and the Chinese soft power.

Liu Liange, chairman of Bank of China, the country's fourth-largest commercial lender by assets, said the bank will work more closely with China Daily, a national English-language newspaper based in Beijing, in a number of areas including brand marketing and international exchange.

He said the partnership will help both the bank and China Daily make greater contributions to China while the country is further opening up.

Zhou Shuchun, China Daily publisher and editor-in-chief, said the two parties have worked together in banking, news coverage and brand building, and have made significant contributions to the increasing impact of Chinese culture worldwide.

He said he hopes that the paper and Bank of China will deepen their work together to help advance the development of the country.

According to the agreement, both parties will use their respective advantages to establish multi-layer cooperation in multiple fields and realize joint development.