PHILIPPINES

Nation Hopes to Get Off U.S. Piracy List: The Philippines believes it has done enough to clamp down on industrial piracy and copyright theft to avoid U.S. trade sanctions, Trade and Industry Secretary Rizalino Navarro said. Navarro is due to meet U.S. Trade Rep. Mickey Kantor in Washington on Tuesday to try to persuade him that Manila should not be on a new watch list of countries seen as the principal violators of intellectual property rights. The Philippines is on the current list, and Navarro’s main concern is to make sure it is not elevated to the priority list of main offenders with countries such as Taiwan. The new list is due out later this month.