* Follows uncertainty after Ericsson Q1 profit warning
* Says JV "not performing well"
* Targets return to 2007 profit levels
* No target date, as dependent on global recovery
* Says has no retirement plans
By Yegor Paanukoski
HELSINKI, July 3 (Reuters) -b Ericsson's loss-making joint venture with Japan-based Sony remains a "vital" part of its strategy, its chairman said on Friday, adding it was targeting a return to 2007 profit levels.
Investor talk that Ericsson and Sony Corp were agonising over the future of their joint venture flared up in March when the world's fifth-biggest handset maker issued a profit warning on its first-quarter results.
However, Michael Treschow told Reuters he remained committed to the project: "Sony Ericsson is a vital part of Ericsson. It is not performing well and is losing money for the moment. We have an ambition of turning it around, we have done it before and we will do it again."
Treschow said he wanted to return the joint venture to the "good profitability we had before", adding that 2007 was a good year for the company, before problems began in 2008.
Both partners have said they were ready to put cash into the company if needed. Sony has said the company could seek at least 100 million euros ($140.2 million).
Sony Ericsson said in April it would slash one in five jobs with cost cutting expected to continue following its heavy first-quarter loss.
Treschow, who is also chairman of Unilever, gave no forecast for a return to profitability, linking it instead to a recovery in the global economy, on which he was more pessimistic.
"The return to (a) global bonanza, with the world trade increases of 10 percent, will take a long time," Treschow said.
"Surely, we have come further into the recovery of the financial crisis ... but I don't see a quick recovery."
Treschow said Sweden and Finland had been hit particularly hard by the economic downturn due to their export-dependent economies.
"We have to figure out when and where the importers will start buying our products," Treschow said.
Treschow, who is 66 years old, said he has no retirement plans and is happy to remain as chairman of Ericsson and Unilever, as well as a representative on the board of ABB. ($1=.7133 Euro) (Editing by Simon Jessop)