FIATA Welcomes Landmark Signing of the Accra Convention, Opening a New Chapter for Multimodal and Digital Trade
Accra, Ghana, 26 October 2026 – FIATA International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations, today welcomed the opening for signature of the United Nations Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents, the "Accra Convention", marking a landmark step towards a more connected, multimodal and digitally enabled global trading system.
At the official signing ceremony in Accra, Ghana, 26 States* signed the Convention:
Burkina Faso
Cabo Verde
China
Comoros
Côte d'Ivoire
Cuba
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Gabon
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Mauritania
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Pakistan
Rwanda
Saudi Arabia
Sierra Leone
South Sudan
Tanzania
Togo
Venezuela
*Further States are expected to sign imminently, subject to the completion of the required diplomatic procedures
The milestone coincides with the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), celebrating six decades of work to harmonise, modernise and unify international trade law. The Accra Convention builds on that legacy by responding to the realities of modern trade and providing a legal framework designed for increasingly multimodal and digital supply chains.
The ceremony follows the Convention’s adoption by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2025, and coincides with the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). FIATA congratulates the States signing the Convention today and encourages governments worldwide to build on this momentum by moving towards ratification and implementation.
A Convention built around the realities of modern trade
The Accra Convention establishes, for the first time, a harmonised and technology-neutral legal framework for negotiable cargo documents across all modes of transport, in both paper and electronic form.
Crucially, the Convention responds to real market needs and existing commercial practice. Modern trade is increasingly multimodal: goods move by road, rail, sea and air, across multiple borders and jurisdictions. Yet the legal ability to use negotiable cargo documents has historically been closely associated with maritime transport.
The Convention bridges that gap. Its significance is particularly strong for multimodal trade corridors, emerging and landlocked economies, where access to international markets depends on efficient hinterland connections and the ability to move goods seamlessly across modes and borders. It can facilitate more flexible end-to-end transport, greater legal certainty and access to trade finance, creating new opportunities for businesses, including MSMEs.
Throughout the Convention’s development, FIATA played an active role in bringing the operational experience and practical needs of freight forwarders into the drafting process under the auspices of UNCITRAL, alongside partner industry organisations such as with the Global Shippers Forum (GSF) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Banking Commission. FIATA worked to help ensure that the new framework is grounded in how multimodal trade works in practice and can be translated into commercially workable solutions.
Dr Stéphane Graber, FIATA Director General, said:
“Today marks an exciting milestone for global trade. The Accra Convention reflects how goods actually move today: across modes, borders and increasingly important trade corridors. It creates new possibilities for businesses, particularly in emerging and landlocked markets where efficient multimodal connectivity is essential.
FIATA is proud to have contributed the practical experience and voice of freight forwarders to this landmark framework. And we are ready for the next step. Through the FBL and eFBL, our industry already has established solutions that can put the Convention in practice from day one. We look forward to working with governments, our members and partners worldwide to turn this important legal framework into real opportunities for trade.”
From proven practice to day-one implementation
For decades, the negotiable FIATA Multimodal Transport Bill of Lading (FBL) has provided the freight forwarding industry with an established negotiable multimodal transport document, in response to market needs. Its digital evolution, the FIATA eFBL, brings that practical experience into the electronic environment.
Together, the FBL and eFBL provide ready-to-use solutions for NCDs and e-NCDs under the Convention. This means that, from the day the Convention enters into force, freight forwarders already have trusted operational tools through which its benefits can be put into practice.
This readiness is backed by real commercial experience. FIATA has already led real-life transactions testing the NCD framework with the eFBL on international trade routes, including Kazakhstan-China, China-Georgia and Turkmenistan-Romania, spanning rail and multimodal transport and demonstrating how negotiable electronic documentation can work in real supply chains, including in connection with trade financing.
These business cases reinforce a fundamental strength of the Convention: it is not creating a theoretical model and asking the market to adapt to it. It builds on existing practice and responds to demonstrated commercial needs.
From signature to ratification and implementation
Today’s ceremony begins the next phase. As the States signing today move from signature towards ratification, and as further States prepare to sign the Convention, FIATA stands ready to support governments and industry in putting the new framework into practice.
Building on its practical experience with the FBL, eFBL and NCD business cases, FIATA will support implementation through capacity building, practical guidance and training tailored to identified market and regional needs, working through its global network of Association Members and alongside governments and industry partners.
As part of this effort, FIATA, together with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Global Shippers Forum (GSF), will soon launch a joint practical guide on NCDs, designed to help businesses understand the new framework and its practical application. The guide will complement FIATA’s wider capacity-building and training work, focused on helping forwarders understand not only what the Convention provides, but how to use it in real trade. An FAQ Guide, produced by FIATA, ESCAP, GSF and ICC is already available here.
The signing of the Accra Convention is therefore more than a legal milestone. It connects a global legal framework with practical solutions already available to the market and opens the door to wider use of negotiable cargo documents across modes, markets and trade corridors. As the Convention moves from signature to ratification and implementation, FIATA and its partners are ready to help turn that opportunity into reality.
About FIATA
FIATA International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations is a non-governmental, membership-based organisation representing freight forwarders in some 150 territories. FIATA’s membership is composed of 106 Association Members and more than 4,700 Individual Members, overall representing an industry of 50,000 freight forwarding and logistics firms worldwide. Based in Geneva, FIATA is ‘the global voice of freight logistics'.
www.fiata.org
Contact
Pritha Prasad
FIATA Marketing Officer
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