Romanian President Traian Basescu says U.S. President Barack Obama has advised him to reform his country's troubled justice system.

Mr. Basescu spoke Wednesday in Bucharest, one day after he met with President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at the White House. A White House statement issued afterwards says discussions covered ongoing political and economic reforms in Romania.

The eastern European country's police and courts have been pursued by allegations of corruption and political interference. The European Union has also called on Romania to institute reforms.

In a separate development during Mr. Basescu's U.S. visit, the two countries signed an agreement on the deployment of a new U.S. missile defense system in Romania.

The agreement allows the U.S. to place SM-3 ground-based interceptors in Romania by 2015. The missiles will be located within the Romanian Air Base at Deveselu.

The agreement comes as part of a U.S. plan to put missile interceptors in eastern and central Europe in stages through 2020 as part of a proposed missile defense shield for Europe.