VNBusinessNews - The prime minister, Nguyen Tan Dung along with deputy prime minister and leaders from some ministries on February 23 worked with leaders of Vietnam’s apparel sector on solutions for business and production activities in 2009.

In the face of negative impacts from the global economic crisis, Vietnam’s garment and textile sector reached only US$550 million in export turnover in January, down 33% year-on-year and falling 24% from last December.

During the first half of February, the country’s apparel sector brought US$248 million in export turnover. During the first two months of this year, the total figure was US$1.15 billion, down 12% against the same period last year.

Garment and textile sector is among Vietnam’s key export items with 15% of the country’s total export turnover.

In 2009, the country’s apparel sector targets to reach US$10-10.5 billion in export turnover and the figure could be US$25 billion by 2020.