The top diplomats for the United States and Russia will meet in Zurich next week for talks on Syria and Ukraine just ahead of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.

US Secretary of State John Kerry will return to Switzerland early next week to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Zurich on the 20^th of January and then consult with world leaders from government and business at the elite Davos forum that runs until the end of next week.

Kerry’s visit to Switzerland, where he attended boarding school in 1954 when his father served in the diplomatic service in Berlin, comes at the start of a diplomatic mission to Saudi Arabia, Laos, Cambodia and China, the US State Department said in a statement on Friday.

The trip was announced while Kerry is currently in London, where he met with the Saudi foreign minister to discuss ongoing tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran that may complicate negotiations to end Syria's civil war.

The Kerry-Lavrov meeting precedes the scheduled Syria peace talks between representatives of the United States, Russia and other major powers that senior US and United Nations officials say is still on track to be held in Geneva on the 25^th of January.