MOSCOW. May 26 (Interfax) - The Economic Development Ministry wants to relax the rules for starting small businesses in this country, Minister Elvira Nabiullina said.

"As we are drafting a strategy for the period ending in 2020, we remain aware that the goal of becoming one of the world's top five economies by 2020 cannot be attained without the faster development of small businesses. The plan proposed includes more than 100 measures for 2008 alone," the minister told a national forum on small and medium-sized businesses as a basis for Russia's socioeconomic development in the 21st century.

"We must switch from the practice of issuing permits to start a business to notification letters," Nabiullina said, adding that bills to introduce a notification procedure for starting a business would be drafted within months. The ministry is also drawing up measures that will reduce the list of products that require certification by a third, she said.

In addition to this, the ministry plans to actively replace licensing with insurance, financial guarantees and self-regulation, she said.

The current control and oversight system is ruinous for small businesses, Nabiullina said. "Rigorous control should be supplanted by partnership relations with small businesses and the punitive mentality should be replaced by the mentality of an auditor and advisor. "The goal of the checks is assistance, not punishment," she said.

At least 6 million small and medium-sized businesses are to be appear in Russia by 2020, said Nabiullina.