DAVOS, Jan. 24 – Ukraine is planning to host a regional summit on Europe and Asia as part of the World Economic Forum in Kiev, President Viktor Yanukovych said.

KIEV, Jan. 25 – Discussions between Ukrainian authorities and the International Monetary Fund on a new Stand-By Arrangement could take several months, according to Standard & Poor's international rating agency.

"The provision of new loans from the IMF depends on the implementation of key structural reforms... The discussions with the IMF could take up to several months, and the agreements signed will be difficult to implement," reads a report from S&P.

SIMFEROPOL, Jan. 25 - Zaliv shipyard (Kerch, Crimea) on Thursday launched the hulls of two ships for delivering provisions to drilling platforms being built at the same time in the dry dock of the shipyard under an order of Norwegian and Dutch companies, the Crimean Council of Ministers reported.

DAVOS, Jan. 25 – Growth of Ukraine's economy slowed down in 2012 to around 0.5% from 5.2% in 2011 and is unlikely to speed up significantly in 2013, according to MP Petro Poroshenko, former Economic Development and Trade Minister and ex-National Bank of Ukraine council chairman.

KIEV, Jan. 27 - Russian oil major Lukoil will shut down its Ukrainian oil refinery on Thursday for a 1.5-month scheduled maintenance, the company announced on Wednesday.

This is the second time that Lukoil shuts down its Lukoil-Odessa oil refinery over the past four months.

KIEV, Jan. 25 – Podilsky Cement (Kamyanets-Podilsky, Khmelnytsky region), part of Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH, Ireland), is planning in 2010 to invest UAH 221.383 million in the construction of a furnace to produce cement using the dry production method with a capacity of two million tons of cement per year.

KIEV, Jan. 26 - CJSC Eurocar (Solomonovo, Zakarpattia region), a producer of Volkswagen Group cars, in 2008 produced 35,892 cars, which is 21.1% up year-over-year, the company's press service reported on Jan. 23.

KIEV, Jan. 25 - International Steel & Tube Industries Limited (Guernsey, UK), also known as ISTIL, in London confirmed that its subsidiary Metalsrussia Investment Limited has agreed to the sale and purchase of ISTIL Group Holding Limited (Cyprus).

KIEV, Jan. 25 - Fitch Ratings announced it has upgraded Ukraine-based Ukrsotsbank's (Ukrsots) ratings to Long-term foreign currency Issuer Default (IDR) 'BB-' (BB minus) from 'B' and Support '3' from '5'.

KIEV, Jan. 25 - Azerbaijan assured Ukraine on Friday it may supply 5 million metric tons of Caspian Sea crude annually, more than double what had been previously thought, via the strategic Odessa-Brody oil pipeline.