On 23 September, Government of China (Ministry of Finance - MOF) and the Independent Office of Evaluation signed a Statement of Intent to forge a partnership for cooperation of evaluation capacity development. The objective of establishing this partnership is to contribute to development of evaluation capacities for agriculture and rural poverty alleviation interventions in China.

This initiative is in line with IOE's strategic objectives which includes activities related to evaluation capacity development, based on the growing need to strengthen national evaluation capacity in the agriculture and rural sectors in recipient countries. MOF and IOE will conduct a joint review of the bilateral cooperation in early 2016, to assess the cooperation results and direct future cooperation strategy.