Recently, APEC has emphasized the importance of advancing the FTAAP. The FTAAP can be considered to be more ambitious than the Bogor Goals. APEC is seeking to strengthen regional economic integration through further trade and investment liberalization and facilitation as well as economic and technical cooperation. Moreover, APEC views the TPP, RCEP and PA to be pathways to the FTAAP. There exists the likelihood that the FTAAP could be realized in the form of a FTA. However, the FTAAP continues to be a long-term APEC goal without a clear schedule. The development of a set of guidelines for advancing the FTAAP is warranted. The main purpose of this paper is to determine a set of guidelines for guiding the advancement of the FTAAP in a systematic manner based on APEC principles.