China expects to sign agreements to give landlocked and resource-rich Mongolia easier access to Chinese territory for its exports such as coal and minerals when President Xi Jinping visits the country this week, Reuters reported.

Assistant Chinese Foreign Minister Liu Jianchao said that making the trans-shipment of goods from Mongolia would be one of the topics for discussion during Xi's two-day trip to Ulan Bator, which starts on August 21.

"Both sides are currently having talks on this issue," he added, declining to provide details. "The direction of these talks is to make Mongolia's trans-shipments easier and smoother."

The two countries have had very effective cooperation on the energy and mining side, and talks on relevant projects, including coal mines, railways and roads are ongoing, Liu was cited as saying.

Soaring Chinese demand for commodities like coal has underwritten Mongolia's rapid growth, with more than 90% of its exports sold to China.

Mongolia had ambitions to become China's top coking coal supplier, largely through the development of one of the world's biggest untapped mines at Tavan Tolgoi, near the Chinese border.

In the first six months of this year, Mongolia exported 7.5 million tonnes of coking coal to China, ranking second after Australia.