ACCRA — Ghana hosts the signing ceremony of the United Nations Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents (NCD) in Accra on Monday, October 26, 2026, the Ghana Shippers' Authority (GSA) said. The ceremony, dubbed the Accra Convention, is organised with Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Ministry of Transport, the Attorney General's Department and the GSA.

Source: Ghana Shippers' Authority, Oct 2026

Ghana and 10 other countries will formalise their support for the convention at the Accra ceremony, Ghana Guardian reported. Following the signing, Ghana will begin domestic legislative and technical reviews, and cabinet, parliamentary and executive approvals must then be secured within 180 days before the convention can be ratified, Ghana Guardian reported. The process is led by the trade, transport and foreign affairs ministries working with the GSA.

Source: Ghana Guardian, Oct 2026

The convention, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 15, 2025, establishes a harmonised legal framework for the issuance and use of negotiable cargo documents across road, rail, air and sea transport, and provides for their use in electronic form, the GSA said. It would become effective 180 days after the deposit of the tenth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, after which its provisions become legally binding on the states for which it is in force, the GSA's Principal Freight and Logistics Officer Rhodalyn Djanitey explained at a pre-ceremony media workshop on October 15.

Source: Ghana Shippers' Authority, Oct 2026

Why paper still slows world trade

Despite advances in digital trade, paper-based cargo documents remain widely used in international commerce, and that reliance can contribute to administrative delay, increase transaction costs, expose transactions to fraud and complicate cargo movement across jurisdictions, the GSA said. GSA Chief Executive Professor Ransford Gyampo said: "The Convention is therefore not simply about replacing paper with electronic records. It is about building the legal certainty and confidence necessary for businesses and institutions to conduct trade in an increasingly digital environment."

Source: Ghana Shippers' Authority, Oct 2026

Gyampo said hosting the ceremony shows Ghana's commitment to modernising trade documentation and improving its shipping and logistics sector, and aligns with Ghana's ambition to be a preferred trade and logistics hub in West Africa while advancing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the GSA reported. Ghana Guardian reported the same hub and AfCFTA framing, and said the convention extends legal recognition of negotiable transport documents beyond traditional maritime shipping to multimodal logistics.

Source: Ghana Guardian, Oct 2026