After the ceremony, talks were held between the two presidents.

Mr Bush is scheduled to meet with Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh later in the evening.

Mr Bush’s initial activities in Vietnam are being widely followed by the foreign press and media.

Reuters quoted Mr Bush as saying that ,” Laura and I were talking about how amazing it is that we're here in Vietnam. Vietnam is a place with an enormous future”.

As his motorcade moved through Hanoi, Bush passed Truc Bach lake, where then-Lieutenant Commander John McCain, now a Republican senator from Arizona, was captured after parachuting from his damaged warplane. McCain spent more than five years as a prisoner of war.

Foreign media also reported that thousands of smiling and waving Vietnamese, lined the streets to welcome Mr Bush’s motorcade.