The China-Europe freight trains have played a key role in strengthening international economic and trade ties, the country's top economic regulator said on Thursday.

Xu Jianping, director of the Department of Regional Opening-up at the National Development and Reform Commission, said the trains have become increasingly important in deepening cooperation between the two continents, supporting regional economic development and ensuring the security of industrial and supply chains.

As of the end of July, a total of over 57,000 China-Europe freight train trips were made, carrying 5.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units containers of goods worth nearly $300 billion. With a 98.3 percent comprehensive heavy container rate, the trains reached 24 countries and 196 cities in Europe, Xu told a news conference held in Beijing.