Ghana is set to review key commercial and transport laws to allow businesses to use cargo documents as security for loans under the United Nations Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents, also known as the Accra Convention.
The Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Hon. Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, disclosed this at the signing ceremony of the Convention in Accra. She said the reforms will cover laws on transport, sale of goods, evidence, electronic transactions and secured lending to align Ghana’s legal framework with the Convention. “My Ministry will lead a review of our laws… so that our courts and systems are ready to recognise the new document on the day it binds us,” she said.
The Convention introduces negotiable documents of title for goods in transit by road, rail, air or multimodal transport, enabling businesses to transfer rights to their cargo and use the documents to secure financing from financial institutions.Mrs. Ofosu-Adjare said government will collaborate with the Attorney-General and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Transport to complete ratification processes, and plans to pilot the use of the documents along a selected trade corridor in partnership with port, customs, transport and banking institutions. The move is expected to ease collateral constraints for traders and SMEs and improve access to trade finance.
