Farewell Speech
22nd UNAFEI UNCAC Training Program“CRIMINAL JUSTICE RESPONSE TO CORRUPTION”
By Olesia Marenych
Chief Specialist-Legal Counsel, International Law Division, Legal Departmentof the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine
Dear Mr. Takeshi SETO, Director of UNAFEI,
Mr. Takahiro MORIYA, Deputy Director-General of the Tokyo
International Centre, Japan International Cooperation Agency,
Ms. Kayo ISHIHARA, Deputy Director of UNAFEI,
Professor Ryo FUTAGOISHI, on behalf of who I honor all the teachers ofUNAFEI,
Dear members of the UNAFEI staff,
Ms. Miki Yamamoto, on behalf of who I honor all the JICA staff members,
ACPF members,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Distinguished guests,
my dear participants of the 22nd UNAFEI UNCAC Training Program,Ladies and gentlemen,“Kombannwa!”
First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the opportunity tomake a farewell speech on behalf of the participants of 22nd UNAFEI UNCAC
Training Program. It's a really great honor for me!
I am lucky, and right now I have had the chance to express my high respect andimmense gratefulness to everyone who organized, hosted this event and participatedin it.
Today, I want to touch the souls of each of you, just as Japan has done to me. Ihope I will find the right words for this and will be able to convey all the feelings andappreciation that I feel.
For this I want to go back to the time that was before our meeting. At that time,
I didn’t know much about Japan and my knowledge of this country can besummarized in the common phrases: «Japan is an advanced and high-tech country»,«Japan is a country of developed economy», «Japan is the land of the rising sun».
However, my journey here has changed everything drastically.
You, my Japanese colleagues and friends, have completely changed myperception of your homeland. And, I think, it happened not only to me, but to all
overseas participants of this Training Program. You have made it clear to us thatJapan, first of all, – it is the Japanese people; people who remember, respect andcherish their past very well, take care about their present and strengthen, change thefuture not only for the new Japanese generation, but for the generations all over theworld. Our Training Program is a very good example of this.
Thanks to this program we have become more experienced and have gained awealth of knowledge on the best practices for preventing corruption in Japan, as wellas counteracting and combating this phenomenon in the respective countries.
We have enjoyed excellent lectures by experienced teachers from UNAFEI,
Japanese authorities and visiting experts from Hong Kong, USA and Great Britain.
These experiences have really opened our minds to new opportunities in the fightagainst corruption in our countries!
Moreover, visits to the Supreme Court, Tokyo District Court, Tokyo RegionalTaxation Bureau, National Police Academy, Hiroshima Prefectural Police, Kyoto
Detention House, Osaka District Public Prosecutor’s Office have greatly increased
our understanding of the structure and functioning of the Japanese justice system. In
this regard, we would like to thank these institutions for the warm welcome andattention given to us during these visits.
At the same time, we very much appreciate the attention given to us during theACPF reception. Thank you for the friendly atmosphere and those positive emotions
you gave us during this reception. We hope that we didn’t disappoint you with ourknowledge of Japanese.
Thanks to you and the activities organized, the knowledge and experience
gained in Japan will certainly find a good application in our countries.
In addition, I want to say that all of you have certainly amazed us to the bottomof our hearts with Japanese gentle care for one another, your attention to all details
and your talent to organize yourself and us. Thanks to the UNAFEI’s staff, as well as
to Urara-san, Kazu-san, Taku-san, Takeshi-san, Mayu-san and Kana-san, from time
to time we felt like a little children taken care of by our parents. It seems we used tofeel this way only when we were little children. Thank you so much for thischildhood feeling!
And we will definitely miss the fine sense of humor of Ms. Yamamoto-san andMr. Tamura-san, as well as Urara-san’s humorous warnings of not giving us a food in
the event of being late.
We will miss you so much, our new friends.
Now I am bringing back to the memory when we had our first introductory
meeting at the UNAFEI and Ms. Ishihara-san told us that at the end of our Training
Program all of us will become an one big family. Honestly, I didn't believe thosewords then. Then I thought, «Family? How can it be?». But now, after such a brightsix weeks together, I’m saying: «Mr. Seto-san, Ms. Ishihara-san, UNAFEI’s
professors, we have much more than just respect for you. Participants of the 22ndUNAFEI UNCAC Training Program, you are much more than just colleagues andfriends to each other». We are really big and multi-child family. And I'm extremely
pleased with this.
We were united by this Training Program. It gave us this wonderful chance to
get to know each other, to see that we have more in common than it seemed before,
and to share an incredible amount of happy and unforgettable moments of life. I
know that each of us will take home its own feelings, memories and impressions, andI am sure that all of them will be special, bright and extremely warm.
On behalf of all participants of the 22nd UNAFEI UNCAC Training Program,I thank all the UNAFEI’s staff, as well as the JICA’s representatives for giving usthis opportunity. I think I will not be wrong if I say on behalf of all of us that you
have a place in our hearts forever.