Land transportation security substantially facilitates trade and travel.  A terrorist incident that affects public land transportation would be extremely disruptive, and thus land transportation security constitutes an integral part of APEC member economies’ counterterrorism goals.  Bus targets, including vehicles and stations, represent 50 percent of all terrorist attacks worldwide.  Suicide bombers carry out more attacks on buses than on trains, and bus attacks cause a disproportionately larger number of fatalities. Improved land transportation security could benefit APEC economies considerably by reducing vulnerabilities that terrorists can exploit.

In 2012, the United States and the Philippines co-sponsored the first APEC Workshop on Bus Anti-Terrorism that provided background on the challenges in dealing with land transportation terrorism within APEC.  To build upon the lessons learned and to share more experiences and best practices, the United States is working together with the Philippines to host a second, follow-on, workshop on 30-31 July 2014 in Manila, Philippines.