The country clamped down on its border with Serbia with a similar fence on September 15 and since then migrants have been taking a detour through Croatia to reach Hungary.
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Unlike Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia are both members of the EU’s passport-free Schengen zone.
Bus loads of migrants began arriving in Slovenia from Croatia for the first time Saturday.
In the Mediterranean, the Italian navy said it had rescued 562 migrants, all from sub-Saharan Africa, trying to reach Europe on five boats in difficulty in the Mediterranean on Saturday.
Migrants arriving from Tovarnik cross the border to Hungary before Hungarian police and soldiers closed the border with barbed wire in Botovo on 16 October 16.
Szijjarto expounded that the Schengen rules “had been put in place jointly and had to be mutually adhered to”, indirectly arguing that Slovenia did not have the right to ship refugees entering its borders through to Hungary.
He said this made border controls necessary. The country will allow up to 8,000 people a day travelling towards the border with Austria.
At a summit in Brussels on Thursday, the European Union offered Turkey a possible three billion euros ($3.4 billion) in aid and the prospect of easier travel visas and “re-energised” talks on joining the bloc if it would help stem the flow of migrants across its territory.
There are fears in Slovenia, a nation of a few two million people, that the latest border closure will channel many more migrants through the country.
“We have every hope that the introduction of the border closure (with Croatia) will have the same positive effects as what we experienced on the border with Serbia”, said Gyorgy Bakondi, senior adviser to Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Hungary has already sealed its border with Serbia.
Thousands of new arrivals a day have been stretching Germany’s capacity to house refugees and other migrants.
Hungary announced on Saturday it would temporarily reintroduce border controls along its Slovenian frontier to prevent the asylum seekers from entering. But Chancellor Angela Merkel said she will not promise “false solutions”, because they will not hold up even for two weeks and will create bigger disappointment that the problem has not been resolved.
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The Anadolu Agency says the Turkish Coast Guard on Saturday rescued 25 other migrants from the sea.
