Gabon signed the United Nations Convention on negotiable cargo documents in Accra on 26 October 2026. This agreement establishes a legal framework for the use of paper or electronic transport documents and adds to the initiatives undertaken by Libreville to simplify external trade formalities.

The Convention, also known as the Accra Convention, provides, inter alia, for the possibility of transferring rights in a good through the transmission of the document representing it, without waiting for its physical delivery.

According to the information provided, this mechanism could facilitate commercial transactions during transport, certain financing operations and the use of a single document for several stages of multimodal transport.

This initiative comes at a time when Gabon is already working to dematerialize its logistical procedures. In January 2026, the Gabonese Shippers' Council (CGC) had submitted a proposal to the Minister of Transport to modernize its administrative documents.

The work also focuses on land freight traceability, with the development of an information system to better track the movement of goods on import and export.

Another project is the creation of a Single External Trade Window, mentioned in July 2026 as part of the cooperation between Gabon and Abu Dhabi Ports Group.

Discussions with an inter-ministerial delegation focused on the centralization of formalities within the different administrations. This would complement the initiatives of the CGC and the legal framework provided for in the Accra Convention.

However, the implementation of these reforms will depend on their articulation. In particular, the Convention must be ratified and incorporated into national law in order to produce its full effect.

The recognition of electronic documents by administrations and operators, the interconnection of computer systems and the security of data will also be crucial to ensure that dematerialisation results in an effective reduction in the time and costs of external trade.