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26th June 2019

Medical Cannabis projected to bring €110M to Malta – Joseph Muscat

Joseph Muscat shares the secrets to nurturing an ‘island of innovation’ at the Cannabis Europa Conference

Speaking at the Cannabis Europa Conference, Joseph Muscat yesterday fleshed out the intrinsic value that Malta holds in the Cannabis industry. The subject matter came about in light of Muscat’s action plan to make the Cannabis venture yet another success story in Malta’s portfolio.
Joseph Muscat was amidst the lineup of speakers that were invited to speak at the Cannabis Europa Conference, held in London’s Southbank Centre. The Maltese PM presented Malta as ‘a country open for business’ to the audience of industry leaders which were present at the Cannabis Europa Conference yesterday. This venture came as a result of Malta becoming the first EU Member State to provide an exhaustive regulatory framework for medical cannabis, in 2018. With regard to this achievement, Joseph Muscat said: “Malta is proud to be Europe’s island of innovation, where ideas are born, tried and tested, then shared with the whole world.”

Since then, the Malta Enterprise is said to have received 46 project applications by household names in the Cannabis industry looking to invest in the ever-growing economy of the Maltese islands. Of these applications, Joseph Muscat revealed that 20 had been approved and issued with a Letter of Intent. It is foreseen that the projects will be immensely profitable for Malta. So much so that the approved projects are expected to attract an investment of over €110M into capital expenditure. In addition to this, Muscat predicts that the applications were approved on the basis that they would create 700 new full-time jobs and supplement Malta’s exports by over €900M by 2022. Amongst the companies to have received the go-ahead from Malta Enterprise is Alvit LCS Pharma which will be one of our exhibitors at Medical Cannabiz World taking place between the 4th and 5th of November. Alvit will also be featured in our cover story for Cannabiz World Magazine.
Whilst Muscat boasted of the increased investment flowing into Malta, the PM emphasises the vigorous verification process which was being adopted across the evaluation of the incoming propositions for collaboration. Muscat emphasised: “All the applications which were submitted, have gone through a minute evaluation process and a very thorough due diligence exercise, in order to ensure that only those applications which met our criteria and shared our vision were eventually approved.” This comes as a result of Muscat’s determination to attract the ‘right kind of business’. For this reason, the Malta Enterprise is said to have refused 19 proposals at the least.
Following his reflection on Malta’s success in the relatively new Cannabis industry, Muscat outlined a plan of action for the Blockchain Island. First on the agenda, the Maltese PM expressed his desire to tackle the operation and exportation of the first local supply. Muscat also made mention of Malta’s potential to become a research centre with the aim of further developing and analysing formulations of Medical Cannabis. All the while, the PM articulated his wish to safeguard the intellectual property of Cannabis farmers and provide education to the public about the use of medical cannabis for therapeutic indications. This action plan, he announced, would be made possible through a close partnership with the Medicines Authority.
As a number of companies arrange to start exporting medical cannabis from Malta to Europe by 2020, Muscat is deeply engrossed in establishing a cohesive rapport between the Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, and Cannabis industries. For this reason, the market is bound to see some all-encompassing transfigurations happening in the near future.