Mongolia pledged to give the president’s 13-year old son Barron Trump a pony as a gift, a courtesy marking President Khaltmaagiin Battulga’s first meeting with Mr. Trump, according to a senior administration official.

It isn’t clear if Barron Trump will actually receive the pony—Secret Service protocol and ethics rules make gift giving to the first family a tricky business. But he’ll likely get to name it when Mr. Battulga comes to visit, the official said.

The two leaders are scheduled to meet Wednesday as part of the administration’s effort to apply pressure on China and Russia through economic and military assistance to various countries in the region.

Mongolia is landlocked by China and Russia and relies heavily on China for trade. Senior administration officials said 90% of Mongolia’s trade flows through China. The U.S. is hoping to discuss trade alternatives with Mongolia to make it more self-sufficient.

During his visit, Mr. Battulga hopes to discuss possible legislation that would allow Mongolia to ship cashmere to the U.S., duty-free, so it is less reliant on China.

The discussions come as the Trump administration is working to restart its trade talks with China. Mongolia is watching those talks closely given its own relationship with China.

Mr. Battulga is a populist business tycoon and ex-judo champion whose meeting with Mr. Trump follows a recent visit to Mongolia by the American president’s national security adviser, John Bolton. The last time a Mongolian president visited the White House was in June 2011.

Barron Trump’s gifted horse isn’t a first. By tradition, Mongolia presents special dignitaries with a horse. At least two former U.S. defense secretaries, Donald Rumsfeld and Chuck Hagel, were presented with horses as gifts.

Write to Vivian Salama at vivian.salama@wsj.com

According to the IAAC, former judge S.Tumurbat, one of the 17 convicted, has managed to escape with his family to the United States where he applied for asylum. He was detained by US border officers carrying a very substantial sum in US dollars.

On 26 June, President Kh.Battulga issued a decree suspending the judicial powers of 17 judges. That night, S.Tumurbat escaped to Russia through Altanbulag Border Crossing, from where he travelled on to the USA, said the IAAC. Earlier, S.Tumurbat’s father had made a getaway through China.

Evidently, corruption runs in the family: S.Tumurbat’s mother was the deceased judge L.Byambaa who died in custody in Detention Centre No. 461. L.Byambaa had been investigated by the anti-corruption body over Salkhit silver mine for shady financial gain.

Trump will discuss a free-trade pact with Mongolia, as well as U.S. investment in mineral deposits including rare earths, according to a senior Trump administration official. The elements are important to the American technology industry and now mostly sourced in China.

The official briefed reporters at the White House on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity.

Mongolia is seeking trade routes that don’t involve China and wants help developing cashmere wool, one of its main exports, into finished products so that it doesn’t have to be shipped to China for processing, the official said. About 90 percent of Mongolia’s trade currently passes through China, according to a second official.

Trump seeks out more allies in the region as the U.S. trade dispute with China intensifies. Earlier on Tuesday, the U.S. president lashed out at Beijing for slashing its purchases of American agricultural products. The country continues to “rip off” the U.S., he said, just as negotiators resumed talks in Shanghai following a three-month impasse.

Mongolia may also be important to the U.S. as it confronts Russia. Relations between Washington and Moscow deteriorated after U.S. officials concluded the country interfered in the 2016 presidential elections and haven’t improved despite Trump’s overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump has a warm relationship with Mongolia’s government already; the administration official said that at some point in the past, the country gave the president’s son Barron a horse, which is still in Mongolia. It’s unclear if Barron would be allowed to accept it, the official said.

Mongolia has asked for Barron or someone in the administration to name the pony, the official said, and hinted that the president may do so at his meeting with Battulga.

The Belt and Road initiative is a Beijing-led program to boost economic and trade ties in dozens of countries in Asia, Europe and beyond, mostly through investments in energy and infrastructure.

According to a study published by Greenpeace on Monday, China’s wind and solar power investments in Belt and Road countries amounted to 12.6 gigawatts (GW) since the initiative was launched in 2014. It had invested in just 0.45 GW of solar prior to 2014.

The country has also invested in 67.9 gigawatts of new coal-fired power in Belt and Road countries since 2014, but Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner Liu Junyan said the increase in the share of renewables should be welcomed.

“Chinese investors’ ratio of coal to solar is now the same at home and abroad - both are still six-to-one (in favor of)coal, unfortunately, but I’m amazed to see what five years of equity investment in solar made possible,” Liu said.

China has been building dozens of new renewable energy projects at home to reduce the share of coal in its total energy mix to 59% by the end of last year. It has also been encouraging its existing coal-fired power plants to install ultra-low emissions technology.

But China has been criticized for funding coal-fired power projects overseas that would not meet its own emissions standards, with a study published earlier this year saying it is supporting more than a quarter of all new coal-fired plants worldwide.

China is expected to put another 40 GW of solar power capacity in operation at home this year, energy officials said on Friday.

China’s total coal-fired capacity also expected to rise by another 45 GW this year, with the total eventually expected to peak at around 1,300 GW, up from 1,140 GW at the end of last year, researchers from China’s State Grid said this month.

"Unfortunately, a total of 60 people, including nine children, have been killed in water-related accidents in the country so far this year. Nearly half of them (were) drowned in July alone," the NEMA said in a statement.

July is the peak season for Mongolians to travel across the country.

The water levels in Mongolia's major rivers, including the Tuul, Kharkhiraa, Khovd, Buyant and Selenge, have exceeded the warning levels by 10-105 centimeters due to heavy downpours since mid-July, NEMA said.

Heavy rain is expected to continue over most parts of Mongolia in the coming days, it said, urging citizens to stay away from flooded rivers.

On July 29, 2017, the Embassy of Italy was opened in Ulaanbaatar. As of today, 54 Italian invested companies are operating in Mongolia, making investment of USD 36.8 million. Italy invested mainly in the areas of trade, food industry, processing of animal origin raw materials and textile.

Trade turnover between the two countries reached over USD 70 million, of which USD 43.4 million are export and USD 33.3 million are import.

Since 1990, the Government of Italy has rendered non-refundable aid worth USD 7.2 million to Mongolia. Italian Minister of Economic Development C.Calenda and Member of Parliament A.Undraa are working as chairpersons of Mongolia-Italy Intergovernmental Commission and Mongolia-Italy inter-parliamentary group.

Speaking during the inter-committee meetings in Mongolia’s capital of Ulaanbaatar, Mustafa Sentop termed their bilateral ties "excellent".

“We celebrate the 50th anniversary of our diplomatic relations based on friendship ongoing for thousands of years,” Sentop said.

"Our friendship and relations based on this common history and legacy left by our ancestors will overcome every kind of difficulty,” he said later in a joint news conference with his Mongolian counterpart Gombojav Zandanshatar.

“What we need to do is to strengthen relations in every field to the highest level by benefiting from this historic background,” he added.

A parliamentary assembly composed of Turkish-speaking countries and countries which have common roots is on the cards, Sentop said.

Sentop went on to say that the state-run aid group, Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) -- which has realized more than 600 projects in Mongolia so far -- would continue its efforts.

Combatting FETO

With regards to the fight against Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), he said: “I’ve gladly seen that we are on the same page [with Mongolia] on FETO.”

“We are dedicated to not to allow FETO, which is a sneaky terror organization, to poison our relations," he noted.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

For his part, the Mongolian parliament speaker said that they regard Turkey as the “third neighbor” of Mongolia.

Mongolia wants to boost economic cooperation, particularly in tourism, Zandanshatar said.

He also expressed his dedication to rooting out FETO schools in the country, saying: “We are carrying out every kind of work that we can do, against these schools operating in Mongolia.”

Sentop, later, held a closed-door meeting with Mongolian President Battulga Khaltma at the presidential palace.

*Writing by Nilay Kar Onum

O.Dulguun was diagnosed with a liver failure and B Hepatitis. He urgently needed a liver transplant costing USD 300,000-350,000. Family members started a campaign; the nationwide response was instant and MNT 150 million in donations flooded in. Sadly, these were not able to save the young Mongolian’s life.

O.Dulguun arrived USA on 12 June in order to watch the NBA finals. He was given tickets for the NBA finals after winning the Mongolian University Basketball Championships with his team the ‘Etugen Leopards’. He was named as a valuable player in the competition in which a total of 40 teams participated.