Arab Spring victors push for investment

Leaders of the Arab Spring sought to assure the world’s elite in Davos that the rise of political Islam is not a threat to democracy, and pleaded for help creating jobs and satisfying the hunger of their people for a better life.

Politicians, activists and entrepreneurs from countries that have cast off dictators and held free elections in the last 12 months were prized guests at the World Economic Forum, where they asked for patience, understanding and investment. The new prime ministers of Tunisia and Morocco, both chosen from Islamic parties, dismissed worries about a surge of political Islam. “For the first time in the Arab world, we have free and honest elections that led to democratic regimes,” Tunisian PM Hammadi Jebali said. Arab officials and activists urged Western executives and commentators not to demonise the Islamic movements that have gone from prison to parliament and the corridors of power in a year of stunning transformation.

“I would like to ask the businessmen in the room. Have you suffered from the victory of the Islamists? You supported the dictatorships in the past,” Moroccan PM Abdelilah Benkirane said. “Today we can guarantee your interests more than they did in the past.”