The sixteen teams were divided into four pools of four teams. The top two teams of each pool play-off in a two-round knockout stage to decide which nations progress to World Group II Play-offs. The four nations coming last in the pools were relegated down to Group II for 2000.
The twenty teams were randomly divided into four pools of five teams to compete in round-robin competitions. The teams that finished first in the pools would progress to Group I for 2000.