Chinese Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan told former French President Velery Giscard d'Estaing Thursday that China will work hard to keep its economy growing in a "fast and stable" manner.

Vice-Premier Zeng gave an account of China's economic situation during a meeting with the former French president, who is also president of Convention on the Future of Europe, and a business delegation he led to China for an annual China-French business forum that was held in Shanghai from Tuesday.

China's economy grew 9.1 percent last year and the growth rate for the first quarter of the year was 9.7 percent. But China is now faced with acute shortages in power supply and transportation capability, which could bottleneck further growth.

The Chinese Government has begun to address those shortages as well as to curb the over-investment in iron and steel, cement and some other raw materials sectors, Zeng acknowledged.

The French business delegation comprise a number of representatives from big names such as Airbus, Banque Indosuez and Vivendi, among others.

This year's forum focused on the competition and development between state-owned and private enterprises.

Former French President d'Estaing spoke highly of China's economic development, which he said has greatly attracted French businesses, who are increasingly interested in having a higher level of cooperation with their Chinese counterparts.

Zeng Peiyan said to the French business leaders that China would continue to improve its encouragement policy for overseas investors, and to conscientiously implement what it pledged when joining the World Trade Organization (WTO).

"We hope that business people from France and other European nations will come to China to seek opportunities and further development," Zeng said.