Civil society representatives from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan met at a December workshop in Dhaka on international financial institutions and debt, and said that it was time to free the region from the IFIs. The conference – organised by South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication, Institute of Environment and Development and Vikas Adhyayan Kendra – highlighted that South Asian countries have long suffered from a debt burden and neoliberal policy pressures from the IFIs. They proposed a South Asia Development Bank for mutual financing of development activities in the region.