NEW YORK (CMC):

In an elaborate ceremony Tuesday night at New York City Hall, the City Council observed the 45th anniversary of Jamaica's political Independence.

The event was hosted by council members Leroy Comrie, the son of Jamaican immigrants, and Dr. Kendall Stewart, the Vincentian-born chair of the Council's Committee on Immigration.

Tuesday night's ceremony paid tribute to the contributions of Jamaican immigrants to the economic, cultural, social and political development of the United States, and honoured Jamaicans in the diaspora.

It was especially dedicated to the memory of U.S. Army Sergeant Kimel L. Watt, a Brooklyn resident and Jamaican native, who was killed last June while serving in Iraq.