PESHAWAR: The All Pakistan Commercial Association of Gems Exporters has rejected the new registration fee of Rs30,000 for preparing passbook and enforcement of general sales tax from Jan 24.

Talking to Dawn on Sunday, the association`s chairman Rashid Qadeer said that the previous government had announced registration fee of Rs30,000 for every exporter while preparing the passbook, and the incumbent government had endorsed the decision.

He said the exporters were not ready to pay the fee because it was against the interests of the business community and the country.

The association members, said Mr Qadeer, at an emergency meeting had rejected the decision, announced by the ministry of commerce.

He said the meeting was also attended by executive members, including Haji Mamoor Khan, Haji Dost Mohammad, Haji Shafi Mohammad, Haji GhulamSabir Rasool, Haji Fagir Hussain, Atif Rashid Khwaja and others.

Mr Qadeer said that the meeting was called to inform the exporters about the new registration system, maintenance of passbook and GST so next line of action could be decided against the new `punitive` measures by the government.

He said the meeting rejected the registration fee of Rs30,000 as beyond the resources of the poor gems exporters and said that, if implemented, the measure would badly affect the business resulting in loss of precious foreign exchange and increasing unemployment.

The association appealed to the prime minister, federal finance and commerce ministers to reverse the decision in the best interest of the country, especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is already hit hard by terrorism and energy crisis.

The meeting observed that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa exporters deserved special relief in shape of soft and fair export policies.