BEIJING -- Bank of China (BOC), a major State-owned commercial lender, said Thursday that it has provided more than 12 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) of loans to support Tibet's development over the past ten years.

These loans have made possible the much-needed assistance to the development of the region's transportation, telecommunications, energy, and water-related infrastructure sectors.

They have also boosted the mining, tourism, Tibetan medicine and ethnic handcraft industries in the southwestern region, said a statement publicized Thursday on the BOC's website.

The statement said that in recent years, the bank has opened more services to meet Tibetan people's daily needs for housing, education, personal investment options and credit.

In the first half of the year, the BOC extended 1 billion yuan of new loans, which accounted for more than 30 percent of the total new lending in the period in the region, according to the statement.