Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday launched the construction of the country's biggest atomic power plant and vowed to pursue further projects to make nuclear the largest energy source.

The 2,200-megawatt plant is to be built with Chinese technical assistance on the Arabian Sea coast at Paradise Beach, 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Karachi.

Iran's president opened a two-day meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organization in Tehran Tuesday with a call for reforms to the regional body that would boost its "indefensible" trade volumes.

"With the beginning of the third decade of cooperation, ECO needs to undertake some reforms," President Hassan Rouhani said in his opening speech, as cited by local media.

Abu Dhabi investment fund Mubadala and Dubai Aluminium (DUBAL) have signed a five-billion-dollar deal with Guinea that should secure resources for UAE aluminium makers, a statement said.

The accord will see Guinea Alumina Corp, a joint venture owned by Mubadala and DUBAL, investing in the construction of a bauxite export mine in Sangaredi, in western Guinea, the government of Guinea said in a statement late Monday.

China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries pledged Tuesday to boost two-way investment and trade, insisting that EU regulations will be met.

"China eyes cooperation in infrastructure, communications, high-speed railway projects, which will lead to massive investment and a rise in commercial exchanges," with countries in the region, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang told 16 CEE counterparts and hundreds of businessmen attending a meeting in Bucharest.

Italy will be eyeing Russian cash for its crisis-hit economy as President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Enrico Letta hold a meeting on Tuesday where they will unveil a 1-billion-euro ($1.4-billion) joint investment fund.

Italian officials said they will test Russian interest in troubled flag carrier Alitalia, which is looking for a foreign partner, and Ilva, a giant steel plant that has been partly shut down over environmental concerns.

The Pacific region faces serious economic losses due to climate change and it is critical that nations causing the problem step in to help, the Asian Development Bank said Tuesday.

A new report by the bank released in Sydney, "Economics of Climate Change in the Pacific", showed that losses would range between 2.9 percent and 15.2 percent of annual gross domestic product by 2100.

Turkey could increase its oil imports from neighboring Iran once the sanctions are lifted as part of a landmark deal on Tehran's nuclear program, the energy minister said on Monday.

The amount of crude oil Turkey buys from Iran, one of its leading suppliers along with Russia, could increase to 140,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 105,000, Taner Yildiz said.

Syria's capital Damascus is experiencing a fuel crisis, with residents lining up for hours at the pump after a highway used by fuel tankers was blocked by fighting.

The army shut the road last Wednesday when fierce clashes rocked the area, blocking the route from the refinery in the central province of Homs to Damascus.

Royal Bank of Scotland faced more damage to its reputation on Monday after the government handed regulators a report claiming that the state-rescued lender forced small firms to default.

Compiled over the past six months, it focuses on claims against the bank's Global Restructuring Group (GRG), which deals with risky loans.

Italy's trade surplus has doubled in 12 months thanks to a rise in exports, particularly to China and the United States, new data showed on Monday as the economy prepares to end its longest post-war recession.

Exports to countries outside the European Union went up 1.5 percent from October 2012 to October 2013, while imports fell by 8.0 percent over the same period, preliminary data from the official Istat agency showed.