Speaking of metaphors, I noticed that the ice-cube that enclosed the poster of the conference that guarded the entrance had shrunk considerably in size despite the freezing December weather.

Tatjana Jurek from the Conference Secretariat said, "Since it is winter, we thought it would be an interesting way to greet the delegates and other participants." I was rather more profound in my musings, and thought that it could be seen to represent the current state of the global water policy, which was "frozen," and how the conference would be chipping away and reformulating issues to move the process forward towards the World Summit next year. Jurek said this was an "interesting interpretation." It was time to move on to ask the smiling folks in the exhibits about their thoughts as the conference dragged on into its final two hours.

My colleagues and I had been sustained through the long days of the past week by the biscuits freely available at the exhibits. As I walked around the much quieter atrium, I noticed that the usually half empty bowls were now full of chocolate goodies. On passing the Gelsenwasser AG exhibit, I automatically reached out to help myself and was pleasantly greeted by the booth's representative, Dr. Detlef Klein. To assuage my guilt, I sheepishly asked him about his impressions on the conference as it drew to a close.

"I was pleasantly surprised by the high attendance of developing countries. But I think that there were two extremes here, from the developed and developing world," he said. "There was no real representation from Eastern European and Latin American countries. Also, I don't think the European community was as active as it could have been."

Speaking to Jeroen Veraat, Secretary of the Dialogue on Water and Climate, was also a revelation. Veraat said that this was the first such international conference he had attended. His voice bubbled with enthusiasm as he shared his experience of hearing the participants' personal stories.

"It makes the whole thing more real. These were not textbook problems. I heard people's ingenuity in adapting to local conditions and climate variability," he said. Veraat found it especially useful to learn about indigenous practices, which he says he would not have heard about otherwise. "This is very useful and important knowledge for a lot of people."

The perspective from Naeem Iqbal of the NGO Sungi was not as encouraging.

"I am disappointed about the impact these processes will have in our countries. On the surface it looks good, but only time will tell," he said.

Jean Pierre Bidjocka, Department of Water Resources, Cameroon, was equally frank in his views on what the conference had achieved.

"We in Africa now need programs. We are looking for implementation. We are used to international conferences where there is just a lot of talk and declarations. We don't need to go from one country to another to repeat the same issues. I hope that in Johannesburg we will finally be able to move to action."

However, not all the delegates felt this way. Abass Jahani from Iran saw the conference as a milestone.

"It has launched new ideas and partnerships and it will fill important gaps in policy," he said.

One of the best things about this conference has been its international flavor, with representatives from over 120 countries. Enam Gewu, who worked at the busy conference bar, said, "It has been great to meet so many people from all over the world, and I can tell you that they all loved to drink red wine the best."

Like freshwater, some things have no international boundaries.