Public documents from Seychelles issued by relevant authorities only need to apply for an apostille in the island nation before they can be sent to China as of November 7.

This has been made possible after the entry into force of the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents between China and Seychelles on Tuesday.

The ceremony for the event took place at the Palais de Justice in the presence of the Chinese chargé d'affaires in Seychelles, Mu Jianfeng, and the registrar, Juliana Esticott.

The main purpose of the convention is to simplify procedures for the use of public documents in other countries, so as to facilitate international economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

The same will apply to public documents being sent from China to Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean.

An apostille is an official certificate that authenticates the signature of a public official on a document for use in another country.

The public documents covered within the scope of the convention include business documents, birth or marriage certificates, police character certificates, and litigation documents among others.

The Chinese chargé d'affaires in Seychelles said that "the main purpose of the convention is to simplify the use of official documents in other countries."

He said that the complex procedures before deterred some people.

With the new procedures in place, documents such as birth, marriage, and university certificates may be handed in to the judiciary before 10.30 am from Monday to Friday and will be processed and returned after 1.30 pm on the same day.

Those submitted after 10.30 am can be collected the following day.

Esticott said that in "urgent cases of people travelling or those living on Praslin, we still process the documents on the same day."

Mu said that the move was also "another signal that China is committed to the opening up policy and it would serve as a catalyst for economic cooperation between the two countries."

The signing of the convention will bring added benefits to the two countries such as more money with the simplified procedures.