On 15 March 2000, the General Assembly adopted resolution 54/254 by which it decided that the Summit will be held from 6 to 8 September 2000 under the overall "The Role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century". It also decided that the Summit will be composed of plenary meetings and of four interactive round-table sessions, with each interactive session to be held in concurrence with a plenary meeting, and that the country of the President of the fifty-fourth session (Namibia) and the country of the President of the fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly would jointly preside over the Summit.

The General Assembly further decided on 10 May 2000 on the schedule of the Summit, as well as the modalities for the establishment of the list of speakers for the plenary meetings and the organization of the round-table meetings (resolution 54/261).

On 11 August 2000, the General Assembly decided that Mr. Goh Chok Tong, Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr. Aleksander Kwasniewski, President of Poland, Mr. Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias, President of Venezuela, and Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of Algeria, would each chair one round-table meeting (A/RES/54/281).

It further decided that a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross and a representative of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta may also be included in the list of speakers for the plenary meetings of the Millennium Summit.