Then the work begins.

Although Egyptian Economics Minister Youssef Ghali is far too diplomatic to say that the diplomats here are showing off their asses, he does say that they have staked out their positions. But now they are ready to deal, he said. "When they arrive here, all countries have very rigid positions," he said. "They start very tough and that is what they are supposed to do. It happens in all multilateral meetings, all international gatherings." He added: "Then, after they showed their toughness, they start showing some flexibility, and now they are doing that. There is flexibility out there."

He said the flexibility could be detected by Egyptian diplomats on all the major issues in which his country had an interest, including, patent rights for drugs.

"The Americans are showing some flexibility on that," he said. He said he was "optimistic" that an agreement on an new round of negotiations, will be reached if not by the closing day on Tuesday, then by Wednesday.

Dr. Martin Bartenstein, the Austrian Economics and Labor minister agreed with his counterpart. "Everyone states their positions in the first day, and now the start the work, " he said. "It is impossible for 143 nations to come her and agree on everything at once. They must break down into committees and get to work and that's what they are doing." Bartenstein, speaking loudly over the din of a small anti-WTO demonstration by a group of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) said, "The NGOs need to be able to have their say. It is important they be heard."

"As a former environmental minister I share their concerns," he said. But, he noted, "if they put the environment above all things, above everything, they may wind up hurting less developed nations who are trying to develop." As the heads of delegations continued to strut their stuff in the plenary six sub committees, called "friends of the chair" in this WTO meeting-have begun to plug away at the work.