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”.

The first meeting of The Evian Group was convened at the Hotel Royal in Evian-les-Bains (on the French side of Lake Léman) – hence the name of the Group – in April 1995. The rationale for convening the meeting was that globalisation – the interdependence of markets through cross-border flows of goods, capital, technology and labour – could not be expected to develop on auto-pilot, that strong institutions would be needed, and especially the WTO for upholding the rules-based multilateral trading system. Providing solid support and stimulation to the WTO would constructively contribute to laying far more solid foundations for globalisation and thereby a strong counter-force to the pressures of protectionism.

As the transformation of the world economy was also in its early throes, clearly measures of confidence building between North and South and between East and West were urgently needed. As the main vehicle for globalisation, the trade agenda should not be the sole preserve of negotiators, but also engage business leaders, policy makers and opinion leaders.

The Evian Group has evolved through an intense constellation of networks with global experts and partners institutions. Its “Brains Trust” is composed of over 100 independent experts truly representing diverse national and professional constituencies. The broader Evian Group coalition consists of some 10,000 persons coming from no less than 136 countries and is active on four continents: Africa, America, Asia and Europe.

The Evian Group has been active in all parts of the world and has convened or collaborated in convening forums on trade, investment and global governance issues in most regions of the world, including: Ukraine, Turkey, Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, Argentina, Brazil, US, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh Korea, Japan and Australia.

Since 1995, The Evian Group has constantly been at the forefront of the global trade debate and its related challenges: governance, climate change, employment, gender issues, inequalities, poverty, migration, environment, water, education and health. It has developed strong collaboration ties with international foundations such as the Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung, the German Marshall Fund of the US, CUTS International as well as with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Since 1999 The Evian Group has been located at IMD.

Until September 2001 The Evian Group was a "project" under different institutional umbrellas. In September 2001 it was established as a not-for-profit organisation registered as an "association" in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland.

Its membership is composed of Council and Private Members. Its projects are sponsored by government and institution partners. Along with prominent Western institutions, The Evian Group has recently developed close ties with a number of groups and think tanks from the South, including CUTS (Consumer Unity & Trust Society) in India, the Centre for Policy Dialogue in Bangladesh, Mthente Research Centre in South Africa, and Imani in Ghana. 

The Brains Trust members advise on the agenda and intellectual input of meetings and contribute to the knowledge base of events and projects.

The Evian Group is located at IMD in Lausanne; IMD is a founding member of The Evian Group and its president (or his representative) is ex officio member of the Executive Committee.

The governing body of The Evian Group is the General Assembly which appoints the Executive Committee.

The Co-Chairs of The Evian Group are :
- Victor K. Fung, Group Chairman, Li & Fung
- Michael W. Garrett, Former Executive Vice President Asia, Oceania and Africa, Nestlé
- Dhruv Sawhney, Chairman, Triveni Engineering and Industries