diff --git a/src/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers/V3/OpenApiPathItemDeserializer.cs b/src/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers/V3/OpenApiPathItemDeserializer.cs
index 3bb10a555..371e7da80 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers/V3/OpenApiPathItemDeserializer.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers/V3/OpenApiPathItemDeserializer.cs
@@ -56,6 +56,13 @@ public static OpenApiPathItem LoadPathItem(ParseNode node)
         {
             var mapNode = node.CheckMapNode("PathItem");
 
+            var pointer = mapNode.GetReferencePointer();
+            if (pointer != null)
+            {
+                var refObject = mapNode.GetReferencedObject<OpenApiPathItem>(ReferenceType.Path, pointer);
+                return refObject;
+            }
+
             var pathItem = new OpenApiPathItem();
 
             ParseMap(mapNode, pathItem, _pathItemFixedFields, _pathItemPatternFields);
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers/V3/OpenApiV3VersionService.cs b/src/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers/V3/OpenApiV3VersionService.cs
index ebe372d40..889ce4cb8 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers/V3/OpenApiV3VersionService.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers/V3/OpenApiV3VersionService.cs
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ internal class OpenApiV3VersionService : IOpenApiVersionService
     {
         public OpenApiDiagnostic Diagnostic { get; }
 
+        private static readonly char[] _pathSeparator = new char[] { '/' };
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Create Parsing Context
         /// </summary>
@@ -129,6 +131,20 @@ public OpenApiReference ConvertToOpenApiReference(
                         }
                         id = localSegments[3];
                     }
+                    else if (id.StartsWith("/paths/"))
+                    {
+                        var localSegments = segments[1].Split(_pathSeparator, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
+                        if (localSegments.Length == 2)
+                        {
+                            // The reference of a path may contain JSON escape character ~1 for the forward-slash character, replace this otherwise
+                            // the reference cannot be resolved.
+                            id = localSegments[1].Replace("~1", "/");
+                        }
+                        else
+                        {
+                            throw new OpenApiException("Referenced Path mismatch");
+                        }
+                    }
                     else
                     {
                         openApiReference.IsFragrament = true;
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Models/OpenApiDocument.cs b/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Models/OpenApiDocument.cs
index 5177e4f45..c172d84c7 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Models/OpenApiDocument.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Models/OpenApiDocument.cs
@@ -504,6 +504,9 @@ internal IOpenApiReferenceable ResolveReference(OpenApiReference reference, bool
                     case ReferenceType.Callback:
                         return this.Components.Callbacks[reference.Id];
 
+                    case ReferenceType.Path:
+                        return this.Paths[reference.Id];
+
                     default:
                         throw new OpenApiException(Properties.SRResource.InvalidReferenceType);
                 }
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Models/ReferenceType.cs b/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Models/ReferenceType.cs
index 6ac0c9ed2..9d8984c96 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Models/ReferenceType.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Models/ReferenceType.cs
@@ -58,6 +58,11 @@ public enum ReferenceType
         /// <summary>
         /// Tags item.
         /// </summary>
-        [Display("tags")] Tag
+        [Display("tags")] Tag,
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Paths item.
+        /// </summary>
+        [Display("paths")] Path
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Services/OpenApiWalker.cs b/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Services/OpenApiWalker.cs
index 3d9e978c9..1da6cc9cf 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Services/OpenApiWalker.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Services/OpenApiWalker.cs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
 // Licensed under the MIT license. 
 
 using System;
@@ -447,7 +447,8 @@ internal void Walk(OpenApiPathItem pathItem)
 
             _visitor.Visit(pathItem);
 
-            if (pathItem != null)
+            // The path may be a reference
+            if (pathItem != null && !ProcessAsReference(pathItem))
             {
                 Walk(OpenApiConstants.Parameters, () => Walk(pathItem.Parameters));
                 Walk(pathItem.Operations);
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers.Tests/ReferenceService/ConvertToOpenApiReferenceV3Tests.cs b/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers.Tests/ReferenceService/ConvertToOpenApiReferenceV3Tests.cs
index f7368b09b..6b94a161b 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers.Tests/ReferenceService/ConvertToOpenApiReferenceV3Tests.cs
+++ b/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Readers.Tests/ReferenceService/ConvertToOpenApiReferenceV3Tests.cs
@@ -124,5 +124,24 @@ public void ParseLocalFileReference()
             reference.Type.Should().Be(referenceType);
             reference.ExternalResource.Should().Be(input);
         }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public void ParseExternalPathReference()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var versionService = new OpenApiV3VersionService(Diagnostic);
+            var externalResource = "externalSchema.json";
+            var referenceJsonEscaped = "/paths/~1applications~1{AppUUID}~1services~1{ServiceName}";
+            var input = $"{externalResource}#{referenceJsonEscaped}";
+            var id = "/applications/{AppUUID}/services/{ServiceName}";
+
+            // Act
+            var reference = versionService.ConvertToOpenApiReference(input, null);
+
+            // Assert
+            reference.Type.Should().BeNull();
+            reference.ExternalResource.Should().Be(externalResource);
+            reference.Id.Should().Be(id);
+        }
     }
 }