The high growth being experienced by the GCC economies have provided strong incentives for financial markets, said Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE's Minister of Economy.

He was speaking at the third Gulf Cooperation Council Stock Market Forum in Abu Dhabi.

"The high oil prices and growth of non-oil sectors and large corporate profits combined with huge inflows of foreign direct investment driven by political and social stability as well as marked improvement in the supervisory and regulatory frameworks are other strong factors contributing to the boom in the equity markets," he was quoted as saying by a Khleej Times report.

Al Mansouri said that new developments in the global economic scene and the fallout of globalization have overshadowed the world stock markets as well as bourses of the region.

"There is desperate need for concerted joint action to catch up with world economic progress amid a rapid moving world controlled by economic blocs and alliances," he said.

He urged Arab countries to boost development and economic integration, to reconcile laws and regulations adopted in the Arab stock markets, upgrade legislative and regulatory systems to achieve equality, efficiency and transparency and encourage cooperation in IPOs and joint listings.

He called for a well-studied approach in addressing and handling a list of challenges the emerging GCC financial markets are facing.