The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation, commonly known by its French name Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme (the UIAA, lit. International Union of Alpine Clubs) was founded in August 1932 in Chamonix, France when 20 mountaineering associations met for an alpine congress. Count Charles Egmond d’Arcis, from Switzerland, was chosen as the first president and it was decided by the founding members that the UIAA would be an international federation which would be in charge of the "study and solution of all problems regarding mountaineering".