London - A British government minister Friday put the costs of staging next week's summit meeting of the Group of 20 (G20) nations at 19 million pounds (27.1 million dollars).

Mark Malloch-Brown, the Foreign Office minister in charge of planning the event, said the bulk of the money would be spent on security and policing.

A number of protest groups have called for demonstrations next Wednesday, the day before the summit, in which some of the more radical groups involved have vowed to bring chaos to London's financial centre, the City.

On Saturday, Britain's Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called for a demonstration in London's Hyde Park, with participants from other European countries, Africa, the US and Australia.

Malloch-Brown said the cost of the summit "compared favourably" to other international meetings of this kind.

"And if it is the signal of restored confidence in the world economy it'll be worth every penny of it," he said. (dpa)