Joe Biden visited Romania three times before being elected president of the United States, while he was serving as VP to president Barack Obama and as the Democrat leader of the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee.
Biden visited the country in September 1999, while he was serving as a Delaware senator. At the time, he spoke of the progress he saw in Romania, which he described as a "beautiful country," according to Stirileprotv.ro.
Biden returned to Romania in October 2009 as part of a three-day visit to Eastern Europe. After meeting president Traian Băsescu, he thanked Romania for supporting the U.S. missile defense system, Deutsche Welle reported.
In May 2011, the United States and Romania selected the Deveselu Air Base to host a U.S. land-based ballistic missile defense system, also referred to as the Aegis Ashore site. The agreement on deploying the United States ballistic missile defense system in Romania was signed in September 2011.
A third visit followed in 2014 when he again met with then-president Traian Băsescu and prime minister Victor Ponta.
