Bangladesh has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to buy 1 million tonnes of Thai rice a year, and agreed to start talks with Thailand on forming a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), which would double trade value to US$2 billion (66.5 billion baht) by 2021. Commerce Minister said the countries had agreed to hold negotiations that could lead to an FTA within the next few years. Bangladeshi Food Minister also signed an MoU for Bangladesh to buy 1 million tonnes of Thai rice a year in government-to-government (G-to-G) contracts to secure its food staple. Under the MoU, Thailand agrees to sell rice through a G-to-G deal of up to 1 million tonnes of all kinds of Thai rice annually to Bangladesh and Thailand is happy to be the supplier to Bangladesh. However, a deal for Bangladesh to buy an additional 200,000 tonnes of Thailand rice has yet to be sealed as the two countries are still negotiating a price.