Koprivnikar told the STA on the sidelines of a public administration conference on Tuesday that one of the advantages of e-services was affordability, adding that Slovenia did not want expensive technological solutions.

Technologically speaking, Estonia does not have better solutions than Slovenia, and they are even less complicated and expensive. "What they do have is a very compact system, in which all elements must cooperate unconditionally," the minister said.

According to him, Slovenia is taking "big steps forward" in this field. Dozens of databases in certain segments of social protection and in real estate registration have been connected and they communicate with each other with no problems, Koprivnikar added.

"I dare claim that Slovenia will get very close to the Estonian solutions in the next two, three years," he said, adding that the main selling point in the promotion of e-services was that they are cheaper.

Pointing to positive trends, Koprivnikar said that the e-administration portal last year logged over a million visits, while the one-stop-shop for entrepreneurs is recording 20,000 visits each day.

Today's public administration conference, which featured around 150 representatives of ministries, administrative units, businesses, embassies and municipalities, also discusses ways to boost efficiency of public administration.

Being discussed is the example of the UK, which among other things measures the efficiency, innovativeness and readiness of public sector employees, which is translated into the wage system, the minister said.

Such solutions are interesting for Slovenia, he said, adding that a similar solution had been put in the draft public sector pay system act. "Of course, a consensus on these solutions needs to be reached with the social partners."