In order to prepare the Conference, the IPU set up a Preparatory Committee composed of the President of the IPU Council, several Presiding Officers, including the Speaker of the National Assembly, and other MPs. The Committee met in Vienna (January 1999), in Rabat (September 1999) and in Geneva (January 2000) to draw up the practical arrangements for the Conference, to draft the Rules of the Conference, and to prepare a Declaration for the Conference.