(Reuters) -&nbsp;Argentina&nbsp;on Wednesday launched the first working group of a&nbsp;new&nbsp;national&nbsp;agency&nbsp;to regularize and promote the country's nascent&nbsp;cannabis&nbsp;industry, which ministers hope will create&nbsp;new&nbsp;jobs and&nbsp;exports&nbsp;generating fresh income for the South American nation.
"This opens the door for&nbsp;Argentina&nbsp;to start a&nbsp;new&nbsp;path in terms of industrial&nbsp;exports, on the basis of huge global demand," said Economy Minister Sergio Massa in a conference launching the national hemp and&nbsp;cannabis&nbsp;agency, ARICCAME.
"All this needs to be transformed into an industry which generates work, which generates&nbsp;exports&nbsp;for&nbsp;Argentina&nbsp;and which generates value."
Massa said that the&nbsp;agency&nbsp;would from Thursday begin regularizing programs and coordinating with various provinces and industrial sector, adding&nbsp;Argentina&nbsp;already counted on demand for projects linked to the agro-industrial sector.
Francisco Echarren, who will lead the&nbsp;agency, said the industry could generate thousands of&nbsp;new&nbsp;jobs, as well as create technological developments and&nbsp;new&nbsp;products for export.
"We have a huge challenge ahead of us," he said, "not only getting a&nbsp;new&nbsp;industry on its feet, but giving millions of Argentines access to products that improve quality of life."
Argentina&nbsp;legalized&nbsp;cannabis&nbsp;oil for medicinal use in 2017, allowing the federal government to grow marijuana for research and therapeutic purpose.
In 2020,&nbsp;Argentina&nbsp;allowed people to grow marijuana at home for medicinal use. The decree also allowed pharmacies to sell products derived from&nbsp;cannabis, and ordered insurers to cover marijuana-based medications for patients with a prescription.
Uruguay became the first modern country to explicitly legalize growing, selling and smoking marijuana in 2013. In Colombia, President Gustavo Petro has also spoken about more regulation to boost the country's&nbsp;budding&nbsp;industry.
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(Reporting by Sarah Morland; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

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Argentina sets high hopes on cannabis exports with budding new agency