U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky on Wednesday hailed the Tokyo-Washington agreement on the reduction of NTT Corp.'s interconnection charges and expressed hope for further rate cuts over the next three years.

Under the deal officially struck earlier Wednesday, the U.S. said Japan has agreed to reduce the cost for competitors to access NTT's regional circuits by 50 percent over two years. Local access cuts will total 20 percent over two years and 22.5 percent over three years.

Regional access refers to switches that provide communications among people living in distant areas, including overseas.

"The overall effect of a 50 percent cut in regional switching coupled with a 20 percent reduction in local switching is about a 35 percent reduction in overall interconnection fees" over the next two years, Barshefsky told a news conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo.

"We were particularly concerned with regional switching because this was of the greatest interest to American and foreign companies as well as of greatest significance to telecom traffic flows between the United States and Japan or between any foreign countries and Japan."

Regarding Tokyo's plan to complete a thorough review of interconnection rates by 2002, Barshefsky said: "We believe (it) will result in substantial additional reductions."

While estimating interconnection rates will be reduced at least another 16 percent in the next three years, Barshefsky said "more substantial rate reductions" are expected to follow the increase in telecom traffic.

U.S. President Bill Clinton said in a written statement: "It's a win-win for the United States and Japan, and represents an important step as we prepare to discuss the impact of information technology on the global economy" at the Group of Eight summit to be held in Okinawa from Friday.

On the much-delayed launch of the new round of trade liberalization negotiations following the collapse of the Seattle ministerial last December, Barshefsky said the G8 countries will issue in Okinawa "a very strong statement on the importance and necessity of launching and indicate their firm commitment to help achieve consensus to do so."

"The United States's position is that consensus for the new round should be sought and achieved at the earliest possible opportunity, including this year," she said.

Barshefsky also welcomed an additional series of deregulatory measures achieved under the bilateral Enhanced Initiative on Deregulation and Competition Policy, which included changes in telecommunications, energy, insurance, housing and medical supplies.