Investors are interested in growing medical marijuana in Vanuatu, its government says.
Photo: AFP
However, the Daily Post newspaper reported that no investment licenses had yet been issued.
Interests by foreign companies to invest in marijuana or hemp in Vanuatu has increased this year after the Vanuatu government expressed an interest in looking at the possibility of allowing investment in cannabis or hemp for medical purposes.
Favourable weather conditions in Vanuatu mean marijuana can grow without much attention anywhere in the country
But the Director general of Vanuatu's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry, Fisheries and Biosecurity, Moses Amos, said government agencies had yet to work on relevant legal provisions to cater for medical marijuana investment.
His ministry as well as the ministries of Health and Justice would need to prepare legal frameworks for parliament to amend the Dangerous Drugs Act, to guide any such new development, he said.
Tanna-based company Tafea Industries had reportedly been issued with a license by the Investment Promotion Authority but it had since been withdrawn.
The company was reported to be planning to change its name to VanHemp.
But the Minister of Agriculture's private secretary, Levi Tarosa, is reported to have warned the company to be careful as the government would not be part of its launch.