Self-regulation organizations must replace state regulation of small business, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday. "We need to admit that agri-businesses have made large advances in this area. Competing with each other, they have found common rules of the game. They told me they needed this form of self-regulation because otherwise they would be torn apart either by large domestic companies or by foreign firms," Medvedev said. Although self-regulation is not applicable to all sectors of the economy, it should be introduced wherever possible, in particular in the meat-processing industry, he said. In an interview with The Financial Times in late June Medvedev pledged to ease the state's grip on business in the country and cut down on bureaucracy. "State officials must realize that they cannot rule business. The economy must be self-regulated," he said.