The Evian Group, founded in 1995, is an international coalition of corporate, government and opinion leaders, committed to fostering an open, inclusive, equitable and sustainable global market economy in a rules-based multilateral framework.

The Evian Group advocates trade liberalisation to achieve growth and sustain the momentum of globalisation.

The Evian Group believes that international trade and investment has the great potential of uniting people through greater mutual understanding and common interest across countries, continents, cultures, and generations, rather than dividing them.

The Evian Group has been described as a “birthplace of ideas” and in its diverse activities draws on the collective wisdom and experience of its members, Brains Trust, and associates, to provide greater knowledge, vision and direction in meeting the economic and social challenges of the 21st century.

The Evian Group has also been described as a “bridge between North and South”; in its diverse activities it seeks to reduce the “trust deficit” that has been an increasingly prominent feature of the early 21st century between “developed” and “developing” countries. Greater transparency in trade can foster better understanding and more dynamic relations.

The Evian Group, although global in its outlook and outreach, initially mainly focused on four key regions: Europe, the Arab Region, Greater China and South Asia. All four have played a major role in the development of global trade and world civilisation. The four regions are vital to the establishment of the 21st century global community, without which the global market cannot be sustained. The Evian Group is committed not only to establish a constructive and strong presence in the four regions, but also to act as a bridge between them.

More recently, the Evian Group has also become much more involved in Africa as it has developed greater strategic concentration on the global challenges of “inclusive growth”. Furthermore as South-South economic dynamics are becoming far stronger, the Evian Group has worked in particular with Brazil in its ties with China and other parts of the “global South”.

The Evian Group adheres to the view that poverty, inequality, injustice and intolerance are the key moral issues of the 21st century, as slavery was in the 19th and fascism in the 20th. It believes that a market economy, founded on responsible capitalism, combining the critical role of government in providing public goods, a strong ethical base of good governance, and free enterprise are the best means for generating growth, employment, empowerment and enrichment in terms of both wealth and welfare.

The Evian Group is strongly engaged in working with the next generation of leaders and with youth, convinced that if youth does not have hope in the 21st century, there will be no hope for the 21st century.

The Evian Group strongly believes in the benefits that globalisation can provide to humanity. For that to occur, however, globalisation must be inclusive, equitable, sustainable and robust. Globalisation as it currently has been developing is badly off track on all of these key areas. As Kofi Annan stated, “globalisation must be for everyone or it will be for no-one”.

To find out more about the Evian Group