The office said the country’s economic growth has been slowing down with many indexes sharply dropping. The conference held that Vietnam would suffer stronger impacts from the world economy this year.

Delegates agreed to take into account difficulties caused by the global economic slowdown, narrowing markets, disasters and epidemics, as well as advantages from stimulus solutions and financial polices in order to give out concrete forecast of the economic situation and make appropriate measures for development.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam expects to earn an export turnover of between 58-68 billion USD this year, a decrease of 7 percent over 2008.

The ministry forecast that exports in the second quarter of this year will keep an equal pace with the first quarter and inch up in the third and fourth quarters.

Meanwhile, foreign investment still a spotlight in the economy, with 6 billion USD poured in the first quarter this year. Of the figure, 3.8 billion USD were added to existing projects, an increase of 34 percent over the same period last year.