The quest for full nationhood and independence does not end with a flag-raising ceremony but is an ongoing process, says a visiting Jamaican diplomat.

But E. Courtenay Rattray, Jamaica's deputy ambassador to the United States, said that there are no other options for a country which wants to set its own priorities.

Jamaica, he said, still faces challenges in achieving full independence 40 years on. Mr. Rattray is on the Island as a guest of the Jamaican Association, which is celebrating Jamaica's 40th anniversary of independence with a dinner and dance at the Hamilton Princess tonight.

Mr. Rattray said the fact that Caribbean countries still have to depend on the Privy Council as a final court of appeal is one indicator that they are not fully independent.

But "great strides" are being made by the setting up of the Caribbean Court of Justice.

"There are just basic practical, material things that you can do as a state which will empower your citizens and that all has to do with exercising your sovereignty over your works, exercising your sovereignty over the sweat of your brow. This is what independent countries do - they put systems in place so their citizens get what is due to them. It's much more complicated than just to get up and wave a flag around."

As an example he offered his country's efforts to ensure that Jamaican musicians are fairly rewarded for their work. While Jamaica is one of the few countries in the world which is a net exporter of its indigenous music, Jamaican artists have not been reaping their fair share of the benefits.

"We are just now beginning to exercise our rights on intellectual property," Mr. Rattray said. "We have now set up our intellectual property office" and a collection agency with reciprocal arrangements with other countries so that Jamaican musicians can receive royalties on their music.

"We are still a net exporter of revenue when it comes to music - the money is going from Jamaica abroad to pay royalties but Jamaica is unique and should be getting much more money coming into it than what is going out."

He said that Independence should not necessarily be seen as the road to economic development.

"And similarly the fact that you may be developed doesn't mean that independence is going to retard your development. But it does have to do with, if you have aspirations to exercise sovereignty over your own decisions, say in the economic realm, there's only one way to do that," he said.

"If you as the steward of a country wants to be owner and not manager, then the road to go is become independent and that is if you want to do that. "Each and every citizen has to realise that when you begin the process of agitating for statehood or nationhood, each and every citizen has to realise that the event in Jamaica in 1962, the signal event is not the end in itself. It is the beginning of a very long process of attaining independence mentally as well," he said.

"And with respect to all the institutions you have as a state you really have to work as a people to ensure that the concept of sovereignty is understood as a living, breathing organ... We all have a responsibility to ensure the country's development.

"No longer do you have the luxury to sit back and saying `I'm on a conveyor belt. I don't really need to walk faster than the conveyor belt is moving because my colonial master as my guarantor'. When you are independent there is no guarantor but yourself."