[Al Ahram] Tunisia's transition to democracy has run into political and economic obstacles and the West must provide more financial backing "before it's too late", Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said on Tuesday."There is acceptable political support from the West for the Arab Spring and Tunisia but, unfortunately, financial support has not quite lived up to the political pledge," Jebali said in an interview at the Rooters Middle East Investment Summit.
"My message to the West ... is that the most important investment for you is the investment in democracy, before it's too late ... This is not a gift but a common interest."
Jebali, a 63-year-old Islamist politician, engineer and journalist, was appointed prime minister last December after the moderate Islamist Ennahda party won the country's first free elections following the overthrow of authoritarian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in a popular uprising.
As the first state to undergo an Arab Spring revolution - a Tunisian vegetable seller's suicide in December 2010 was the initial trigger for revolts around the region - Tunisia has regained some stability before many of the other countries.
Political turmoil and a wave of labor unrest caused the economy to shrink last year, but growth has begun to recover and inflows of foreign investment have rebounded close to their pre-revolution level, according to government data.
Jebali said the developing democracy still faced serious threats, however, making Western financial support important to give the government more room to man oeuvre.
One big source of concern is parliament's slowness in drafting a new constitution for the country, because elections must be held by next June at the latest to ensure a smooth political transition, he said.
"The country cannot afford more time ... If it remains this slow the constitution will not be ready two years from now, and this is unacceptable," Jebali said.
While foreign investors had expressed interest in Tunisia, he said the business community was demanding a clearer vision of the North African country's political future.