Rashid al-Alimi - head of the Saudi-backed Presidential Council in Yemen, asked Riyadh to convene a forum to resolve the problem in the southern part of the country, where the so-called Southern Transitional Council has said it is preparing a referendum on its secession in two years.
The Saudi foreign ministry welcomed the idea and called on southern factions to take part in the forum.
The announcement of the independence referendum came hours after the government announced it had launched an operation to retake Hadramout province, which was seized by the Southern Transitional Council forces last month.
The separatist actions have changed the balance of power in Yemen's civil war and exposed the division between government allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the authorities' fight against the Houthis. Abu Dhabi, for its part, announced that it had already withdrawn all its forces from the country after an earlier call from Riyadh.
Meanwhile, the airport in the southern capital and main port, Aden, remains blocked, with the Southern Transitional Council and Saudi Arabia constantly blaming each other for the situation. Aden is a major entry point into areas outside the control of the Houthis, who hold the capital Sanaa and the north.
The territory of present-day Yemen was divided into two separate states for over 30 years before the country's unification in 1990.