FIATA Champions Digital Solutions for Global Trade at GAFTA Seminar
On Tuesday, 6 February 2025, FIATA Director General, Dr Stéphane Graber, was invited to join a high-level panel at the Agri-Digital Age Seminar, hosted by GAFTA – the Grain and Free Trade Association and held in Geneva. Bringing together some of the most influential voices in trade, this session was broadcasted online and explored innovation in agricultural trade, addressing critical questions surrounding the adoption of new technologies and digitalisation, with a focus on operational efficiency, transparency, security, and interoperability.
Alongside FIATA’s Director General, the panel featured esteemed speakers, including:
- Jeremy Cheon, Senior Director, Global Trade Execution, Bunge
- Vincent Friedblatt, Head of Innovation in Global Commodity Finance, Crédit Agricole
- Paul Harrison, Vice President, Agri Commodities, SGS & President, GAFTA
- Sorin Albeanu, Head of Commercial, Covantis
- Michele Sancricca, CEO, Secro
The discussion was expertly moderated by GAFTA Director General, Ms Jaine Chisholm Caunt OBE, offering valuable insights into the latest digital trends shaping global trade. A key focus was the work of United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), supported by FIATA, in developing a new convention for a Multimodal Negotiable Cargo Document. The panel served as a platform to highlight the essential features required for a successful, future-ready digital supply chain.
Participants acknowledged that the high fragmentation of the logistics market poses a significant challenge, emphasizing the need for broad collaboration beyond individual constituencies to prevent the creation of isolated digital systems. Digitalization should not be seen as a competitive or commercially driven initiative but as a fundamental business requirement that necessitates industry-wide collaboration.
The digital Negotiable FIATA Multimodal Transport Bill of Lading (eFBL) exemplifies this approach, offering a fully open solution accessible via API services and secured with blockchain. It enables freight forwarders to issue and manage FBLs seamlessly within their Transport Management Systems (TMS) or existing software platforms, while also allowing authorised supply chain stakeholders to securely access relevant data on demand through an API call.
The successful case study run by FIATA in November 2024 demonstrated the potential of the eFBL for shippers to access trade financing: the shipment, primarily by rail, from Kazakhstan and China, financed by the Bank of China, utilised an eFBL while referencing provisions of the forthcoming Multimodal Cargo Documents Convention under development at UNCITRAL. This shipment illustrated the practical application, value, and functionality of existing digital solutions, encouraging broader adoption of the eFBL, which enhances legal certainty for transport operations that do not involve a maritime leg.
To learn more about FIATA’s legal work at UNCITRAL, contact [email protected]. For inquiries about starting with the eFBL, reach out to [email protected].