Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade on the middle leg of a Balkan tour that has already taken him to Bosnia-Herzegovina and finishes up in Croatia.
Erdogan has been pushing for visa-free travel between Turkey and the Balkans' aspiring EU members, Bosnia and Serbia.
Turkey's staunchly pro-Erdogan Daily Sabah said the Turkish and Serbian sides inked seven agreements on economic, industrial, and technical cooperation, including a protocol on passport-free travel for nationals on both sides as part of the trip.
Before leaving the Bosnian capital on September 6, Erdogan announced a similar passport-free protocol with that country of around 3 million.
"We exchanged opinions on all issues of importance for our two countries, as well as current geopolitical challenges on a regional and global level," Vucic said of his meeting with Erdogan, who arrived late the previous day.
Erdogan has taken an especially active role over the past year in encouraging regional dialogue between Serbia, an economy with 7 million people, and the mostly Muslim Bosnia, as well as Serbia's former province of Kosovo.
Belgrade still does not recognize Kosovo's independence, declared in 2008 and acknowledged by more than 100 countries.
"The Balkans can no longer tolerate adversity," Erdogan said in the Serbian capital.
The delegations were accompanied by Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic and his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Ahead of Erdogan's visit, some Turkish residents of Serbia expressed concern over Ankara's efforts to use improved relations with Belgrade to further rein in dissidents abroad.
A final Serbian extradition hearing is scheduled for September 16 for Turkish activist and politician Ecevit Piroglu, who has been on hunger strike for three months to protest his detention.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has cited official figures indicating that Turkey has investigated or convicted more than 150,000 people in connection with the 2016 coup attempt that Erdogan blamed on U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen and his network of followers and educators.
Gulen and his supporters deny the accusation.
HRW accuses Turkish authorities of "torture, ill-treatment, and cruel and inhumane or degrading treatment in police and military detention and prison" since the coup, reversing progress in the areas of rule of law and human rights.