The United States and Romania have signed an agreement on the deployment of a new U.S. missile defense system in the country.

Romanian President Traian Basescu met with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden at the White House Tuesday before meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for an official signing ceremony.

The agreement allows the US 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.