In this file photo dated March 22, 2019, a visitor watches exhibits at the exhibition named "Photographic Journey to China: Cities and Citizens" in Rome, Italy. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

ROME — The Italian and Slovenian prime ministers said on Tuesday that Schengen area travel rules in Italy would be reinstated as soon as possible.

Italy suspended the rules along its border with Slovenia on Oct 21. The move was a response to what Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni called then "the worsening situation in the Middle East, the increase in migratory flows along the Balkan route, and above all for reasons of national security."

Meloni also expressed sympathy for the "difficulties of cross-border communities" inconvenienced by the travel restrictions

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When Italy suspended the rules, officials said controls on the border between Italy and Slovenia would last for at least ten days.

"Our commitment is to return to the ordinary border crossing regime as soon as conditions allow it," Meloni said at a joint press conference here on Tuesday, after a meeting with Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob.

"We both know that the Schengen rules are an extraordinary achievement that has to be preserved," she noted.

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Meloni also expressed sympathy for the "difficulties of cross-border communities" inconvenienced by the travel restrictions.