PORTLAND— State leaders focused on the silver lining surrounding the current economic malaise Thursday, saying Oregon was well positioned to weather the recession and emerge a national leader in “green” technology.

At the seventh annual Oregon Leadership Summit, a number of Oregon’s top politicians — including Gov. Ted Kulongoski and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden — told hundreds of business and political leaders that the proposed federal stimulus package would likely play to Oregon’s key strengths, chief among them renewable energy.

“My friends, we are going to be the green energy capital of the world,” Wyden said during opening remarks.

Despite the upbeat nature of the comments, the speakers offered few concrete details about how soon Oregonians would see some relief.

State economist Tom Potiowsky said he expected overall job losses both this year and next, and a slight net gain come 2010. Beyond that, both he and economist Joe Cortright of Impresa, a consulting firm, said it was too soon to say when the state might recover.

“We’re literally, in economic terms, in uncharted territory,” Cortright said.

Potiowsky was able to lay out some of Oregon’s strengths. So far the financial sector, an area in which Oregon is not heavily invested, has been the hardest hit by the downturn. Though Oregon’s housing bubble has burst, the effects have not been as jarring as those in Florida, Arizona, California and Nevada. Potiowsky also pointed out that sales-tax states were worse off than income-tax states such as Oregon.

Still, he cautioned that if the recession becomes “full blown,” that is it permeates several different economic sectors, Oregon would be hard hit.

Both economists said the state should appeal to the federal government for money to help fully support social services, including unemployment benefits. The federal government would need to play a key role, Cortright said, because “the state is hamstrung. It’s limited by the requirement it balance its budget.”

During the day, speakers, including the governor, spun the broken economy as an opportunity for Oregon to position itself as a leader once the depressed cycle ends. “I hope we don’t let the current economic environment cloud our vision,” Kulongoski said after explaining that much of the federal stimulus dollars would go toward building sustainable technology and energy sources.

The governor said the national stimulus package could be significantly bigger than the $300 billion to $500 billion under discussion — perhaps nearer to $1 trillion.

Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney, who said his staff describes him as a glass-completely-empty sort of person, was a bit more sobering in his remarks. He reminded attendees that the unemployment rate was on the rise and more Oregonians were depending on state aid.

That was the “bad” and the “ugly,” Courtney told the audience. As for the “good,” Courtney said the Oregon Legislature may be able to pass a $133 million state maintenance plan focusing on small, already-planned projects before the end of January, potentially creating more than 1,500 jobs.