Short answers, pulled from the story.
APEC was founded in November 1989 in Canberra, Australia. The first meeting was chaired by Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Gareth Evans and attended by ministers from twelve countries.
Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke called for more effective economic cooperation across the Pacific Rim in January 1989. His push was inspired by the success of ASEAN's post-ministerial conferences, which had grown to twelve members by 1986.
The Bogor Goals were adopted at the 1994 APEC Leaders' Meeting in Bogor, Indonesia. They set targets for free and open trade and investment across the Asia-Pacific by 2010 for industrialised economies and by 2020 for developing economies.
APEC's membership criterion is independent economic status rather than sovereignty. This allows Taiwan, participating as Chinese Taipei, and Hong Kong to be members alongside the People's Republic of China, which is why APEC uses the term member economies instead of member countries.
Officials decided against admitting India because it does not border the Pacific Ocean, a geographic condition that all current APEC members meet. India was invited as an observer for the first time in November 2011.
The tradition of host-country national costumes began at the first APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in 1993, when US President Bill Clinton insisted on informal attire and gave leaders leather bomber jackets. Subsequent summits have featured batik outfits, Tang suit jackets, barong tagalogs, vicuna wool shawls, and Vietnamese silk shirts, among others.