Uzbekistan has signed a deal with a Maltese company, Melabis, to grow and produce medical cannabis in the Central Asian country.
Melabis will grow the plants on 3,000 hectares of farmland in the Sardoba district of Sirdaryo Province, local media reported on November 26, citing the regional government.
It marks the first such deal for Uzbekistan, where the drug is prohibited, despite regular calls for its legalization.
According to the UzA publication, the refined product will have THC content of 0.1-0.2 percent, making it suitable only for medical use. "The final product will be mostly exported," UzA said.
With an initial investment of about $33 million, the project includes building a high-tech plant and laboratories in Sirdaryo that would create some 100 new jobs, UzA reported.