On October 26, local time, the signing ceremony for the United Nations Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents (hereinafter referred to as “the Convention”) was held in Accra, the capital of Ghana, with about 400 participants from more than 60 countries and regions. Vice Minister of Commerce Jiang Chenghua attended the signing ceremony and signed the Convention on behalf of the Chinese government. Twenty-six countries, including China and Ghana, became the first signatory countries to the Convention. The Convention will later be open for signature by all countries at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Initiated and spearheaded by China, the Convention was deliberated and adopted by the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in December 2025. The Convention creates, at the level of international rules, “negotiable cargo document” applicable to all modes of cross-border transport, breaking the centuries-old institutional barrier under which only the maritime bill of lading could serve as a document of title. This institutional innovation fills a gap in international rules, and provides international legal protection for finance transactions involving cross-border transport documents. This will effectively ease the financial pressure on enterprises when they participate in international trade, reduce the transaction costs of cross-border overland trade, and inject new momentum into high-quality development of global trade. The birth of the Convention is a milestone innovation in international commercial rules. It is a concrete action taken by China and other countries to uphold the vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity and fully implement the four global initiatives, and is also a fine example of practicing true multilateralism and upholding the U.N.-Centered international system.

China is ready to work with all countries and to complete its domestic ratification procedures as soon as possible, and looks forward to more countries joining the Convention, so that the benefits of the Convention can be shared by more countries and contribute to the prosperity of global trade and the well-being of the people of all countries. (Released on October 27)