German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds a news conference after the informal meeting of European Union leaders in Salzburg, Austria, September 20, 2018. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss challenging topics including the situation in Syria with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Germany next week, a spokesman for the German government said on Friday.

Russia and Turkey told a weekly meeting of the U.N. Syria humanitarian taskforce in Geneva on Thursday that they were still working out the details of their plan to avert a major battle in Syria’s Idlib province but were optimistic.