Romania wishes to finalize negotiations this year on US plans to deploy elements of a new missile defense shield on its soil, President Traian Basescu said on Thursday.

"The United States remain our strategic partner and our main ally in the field of security. Today, the main vector of our cooperation is the anti-missile shield. We wish to conclude this year the bilateral negotiations", Basescu told foreign ambassadors in Romania.

Last February, Romania was officially invited by US President Barack Obama to be part of a newly designed US missile shield.

The Balkan country will host SM3-type medium-range ballistic missile interceptors, which should be operational by 2015.

NATO and the United States want to set up a missile shield to protect Europe against what they perceive is a growing threat of short- and medium-range missiles possibly launched from the Middle East, especially from Iran.