LONDON, England (CNN) -- Some countries have an e-minister. Cutting-edge Estonia has an e-Cabinet.

Last August, the government of this tiny Baltic nation quietly made e-history when it outfitted its Cabinet meeting room with sleek LCD terminals and cordless keyboards that ministers activate with "smart" cards.

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The move was spurred by Prime Minister Mart Laar's move from Toompea Castle, on the cobblestoned heights of Tallinn's medieval Old Town, to new working quarters in nearby Stenbock House.

Seven months on, the innovation has cut ministerial session times from an average of 90 minutes to one hour and, coupled with the use of digital signatures on official documents, has virtually eliminated paperwork.

Ministers scan and prepare material electronically, check daily agendas at the click of a mouse, and even participate in meetings from remote locations.

Linnar Viik, an adviser to Laar and an official who has played a large conceptual role in Estonia's drive to digitise, said the savings alone from not having to make photocopies of paper documents has been around 1.6 million kroons ($90,258).

Viik estimates that the Cabinet meeting room will recover the costs of its 2.5-million kroon ($141,029) start-up investment within 14 months.

Western sensibilities

Since regaining its independence a decade ago after a 50-year interlude under Soviet rule, Estonia (population 1.4 million) has forged a reputation as one of Europe's most dedicated devotees to the Web way of life.

Even in Soviet times, the country prided itself on its image as a Western-style enclave more attuned to the sensibilities of European neighbours like Finland than to those of Russia to the east.

After independence, the eccentric streak extended to the economy, where the country's decision to peg its currency to the German mark sparked a boom that observers dubbed the Estonian "economic miracle."

Today, Estonia is a country where the 40-year-old prime minister, now in his second term, carves out two, half-hour sessions a week in his busy schedule to personally respond to e-mails selected by his assistant.

"People care about that," Viik said. "What we attempt to say is that the Internet is a working tool. It's not something that is just a lot of talk."

Would-be presidential hopefuls in the upcoming election routinely go online to field questions from other Net surfers -- as one candidate, Tartu University rector Peeter Tulviste, did recently.

But perhaps the most ambitious innovation lies in a proposal by the country's Justice Minister to introduce electronic voting in the 2003 parliamentary elections. In the last elections, 2 percent of Estonians cast their ballot by post, and Viik said the new proposal would extend that system to the Internet.

The plan calls for allowing citizens to register as e-voters and sign their ballots electronically using a digital signature. As Viik acknowledges, however, it faces tough questions about costs and mechanisms for safeguarding against fraud before it can become law.

And then it is unclear how many Estonians would choose, at least in an initial phase, to register as e-voters.

European statistics suggest that 38 percent of Estonians have used the Internet in a recent three-month period, while 28 percent log on at least once a week, qualifying them as average or heavy users.

Look for the Web sign

Nineteen percent of families, meanwhile, have personal computers at home. Many Estonians log on at work instead: about 80 percent of private companies have Web connections.

But the statistics can be misleading, since many Estonians access the Internet from one of 170 Public Internet Points in libraries and municipal buildings across the country.

The sites are situated mainly in rural areas -- there are only three in the capital, Tallinn -- and are marked by a blue sign with the cyber "at" symbol and usually a number showing how many metres to the Web point.

A recent survey found that 82 percent of Estonians do their banking over the Internet -- just behind its cyber-savvy Nordic neighbour, Finland, at 85 percent.

Meanwhile, as far larger European neighbours talk grandiosely about wiring every schoolroom, Estonia is already there: All of its some 700 schools are Web equipped following the recent completion of the state-sponsored "Tiger Leap" program initiated in 1996.

No niche has been left Net-less: even the three-student schoolhouse on Ruhnu island, with about 40 residents, has a dial-up connection.

Viik, the prime minister's adviser, sees a catalyst for the high-tech push in the collapse of the Soviet Union, which created an overnight need for new infrastructure.

"We did not have old infrastructure," Viik said. "We were able immediately to jump into the Internet." He adds that the country was also blessed with a high concentration of "intellectual capital" in the banking sector, along with a competitive ethic that stressed innovation over expansion.

Raul Malk, Estonia's ambassador to the UK and a former foreign minister, says the country's diminutive size has helped foster its inroads on the Internet. Small countries, he says, "can do a lot of things more easily than bigger ones."

But Malk suggests that just because something is easy does not mean it shouldn't be given close scrutiny.

"Electronic voting is a very, very serious thing," he said. "We don't want accusations that something is being done wrong."

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