In theory the WTO, with 142 members including 47 African countries, operates by consensus. All countries have the right to participate in negotiations affecting them. The WTO secretariat is supposed to represent all members equally. Since Seattle, moreover, the secretariat has responded to criticism about lack of transparency by making many more documents available to the public. In practice, however, key decisions, including formulation of documents presented as “consensus” positions, take place in smaller, informal meetings that are closed or unannounced. These meetings include primarily the rich countries and sometimes representatives of a few key developing countries. Even when meetings are open, African and other developing countries are often unrepresented simply because they do not have enough personnel to send to many simultaneous meetings.