Michel-Gabriel Paccard Michel-Gabriel Paccard Michel Gabriel Paccard (1757–1827) was a Savoyard doctor and alpinist, citizen of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Born in Chamonix, he studied medicine in Turin. Due to his passion for botany and minerals, he met Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, who initiated the race to be the first to ascend Mont Blanc. Gaston Rébuffat wrote "Like Saussure a devotee of the natural sciences, he has a dream: to carry a barometer to the summit and take a reading there. An excellent mountaineer, he has already made several attempts." Paccard had a first, unsuccessful, attempt in 1783 with Marc Theodore Bourrit. In
Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union Summit Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union Summit The European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean Summit (EU-LAC) is a biennial meeting of heads of state and government of Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union. In the first EU-LAC summit, held in Rio de Janeiro between 28 June and 29 June 1999, participant nations agreed to develop a strategic partnership focused on strengthening democracy, the rule of law, international peace and political stability. The second meeting was carried out in Madrid in 2002, the third in Guadalajara in 2004, the fourth in Vienna in 2006 and the