BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping said Monday that China's private sector has played an important role in bolstering economic growth, promoting innovation, creating jobs, and improving people's wellbeing over the past four decades.

He made the remarks in a congratulatory letter to the fifth national congress of self-employed individuals.

China's private sector has witnessed a boom in growth since the policy of reform and opening up was implemented 40 years ago and has become an important part of the economy.

At the end of 2017, there were 65.79 million individually-owned businesses and more than 27.26 million private enterprises, which employed 341 million people.

Private enterprises and the individually-owned businesses should carry forward entrepreneurship, stick to the real economy, and carry out high-quality development, Xi said.