Former Papua New Guinea prime minister Sir Julius Chan is pushing for his resource-rich New Ireland province to become PNG's second autonomous region.
The island province in PNG's north has set up a committee in the capital Kavieng to discuss the idea, which is driven by Sir Julius, now New Ireland's governor.
The Post Courier newspaper reports that government, church, business and community groups are meeting to pursue the idea.
Sir Julius says once the committee was fully established it would start dialogue with PNG's national government to negotiate legal and administrative frameworks.
He says debatable issues of governance and resource equity have driven the province to seek a greater say in the extraction of the province's natural resources.
Sir Julius says the province aspires to become a more self-reliant, autonomous part of PNG.
Another mineral-rich province, Bougainville, became PNG's only autonomous region after a bloody secessionist war during the 1990s.
