The common territorial challenge addressed jointly in the project is represented by the low access rate of the cross-border population to laparoscopic surgery services, caused by lack of information and poor finance on the part of the patients, as well as lack of proper medical equipment and lack of qualification of the medical staff on the part of the local healthcare institutions.Although the advantages of laparoscopic surgery are far greater than traditional open surgery, there is a relatively low rate of laparoscopic surgeries within the total number of abdominal surgeries over the cross-border region, which translates into over 21.000 patients being subjected to open abdominal surgery each year throughout the cross-border area, most of which could otherwise benefit from the advantages of the laparoscopic surgery. This is mainly caused by a deficit of capacities, both from the point of view of the available equipment and of the qualification of the medical staff. As laparoscopic surgery represents a new technique with a fast pace of development, the lack of qualification of the regional medical staff plays an important factor for the low rate of laparoscopic surgeries. The overall objective of the project is improvement of the quality of life for the population from the cross-border area with abdominal pathologies. Last generation surgical equipment and advanced training for expert surgeons ensured through the joint actions of the two project partners will create access for the entire population of the cross – border area to modern high quality abdominal surgery services in Timisoara and Smederevo. The expected change that the project will make to the current situation is found in providing, throughout the duration of the project, high quality abdominal surgery services, available for free to all the citizens of the cross-border area. As early diagnosis is of particular importance for the treatment of the abdominal pathologies (especially cancers), free high quality diagnosis services will be offered in Timisoara and Smederevo to patients from the entire cross-border area throughout the duration of the project. In addition, the project partners take the commitment to continue to supply the diagnosis and surgery services for the citizens of the cross-border area without any direct charges, after the end of the implementation period. The awareness campaign lead by the 2 project partners will improve prevention and early diagnosis of abdominal diseases, with important effects on the quality of life of the population. The network of specialists developed through the project around the 2 poles (Timisoara and Smederevo) will increase significantly and with immediate effect the access of the population from remote areas to specific healthcare services, as well as the quality of these services. More specifically, laparoscopic surgery equipment exist in hospitals from each of the 9 counties/departments of the cross-border region. Still, all hospitals are limited to a small range of simple laparoscopic surgeries, as their medical staff is only trained in basic laparoscopic surgical procedures. Through the activities of the project, at least 2 expert surgeons from each county/district will be trained in advanced laparoscopic surgery procedures, which will instantly activate the capacities for such procedures throughout the entire cross-border area (acceptable laparoscopic equipment already exists in several hospitals). With immediate effect, patients will have acces to advanced procedures locally, thus avoiding subjecting themselves to open surgery. The project will also contribute to the improvement of the diagnosis procedures throughout the cross-border area. Through all its activities, the project will show particular attention to disadvantaged persons and minorities that show special tendencies of not taking medical investigations in time or cannot afford high quality medical investigations and high quality surgery services. In terms of main outputs produced and beneficiaries, during the 24 months of implementation, 2.925 citizens of the cross-border area will benefit from high quality diagnosis or surgery services. Thus, a minimum of 1.800 medical investigations and 825 surgical procedures will be performed without charge for the citizens of the cross-border area. Synthetically, the following outputs and beneficiaries will be approached: Free medical investigations for 1.800 patients; Free abdominal surgery services for 825 patients; Training courses for 40 experienced surgeons and residents; Training for 200 medical students; Memberships to the network of specialists for 100 physicians; Guides for best practices in the field of laparoscopic surgery for 200 surgeons, residents, students and family doctors; Guides for patients and family doctors concerning the costs and benefits of open and laparoscopic surgery for 200 recipients; Guides for hospitals, surgeons and cost benefit analysis experts concerning the