Sky News: Barack Obama has arrived in Vietnam for a landmark visit capping two decades of rapprochement between the former wartime foes.
Air Force One touched down in Hanoi just after 9:30pm local time (2.30pm GMT), the start of a three-day trip in which he will meet Vietnam’s communist leadership.
He is expected to stress improving relations with the emerging nation, as both countries look to push trade and check China’s growing assertiveness.
Few countries have seen such a dramatic turnaround in their relations since intense reconciliation efforts, led by Mr Obama’s Democratic predecessor Bill Clinton.
Mr Clinton became the first post-war president to visit Vietnam in 2000.
The Obama administration now sees the country as a vital plank in America’s much vaunted pivot to the Asia-Pacific region.
Vietnam’s leadership hopes to strengthen ties with the US, particularly as it argues with Beijing over disputed waters.
On Monday morning Mr Obama will meet the country’s president, its prime minister and the country’s de facto leader Nguyen Phu Trong, the general secretary of the Communist Party.
A major talking point will be the lifting of a US arms embargo, a last vestige of the decade-long war between the two nations.
