European and US foreign ministers on Friday highlighted the "exceptionally good shape" of transatlantic relations despite poor public support, a top US official said.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted "violent agreement on all subjects" at a traditional EU-US meeting held each year on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, said Daniel Fried, the US assistant secretary of state for European affairs.

"The US-EU relationship is in an exceptionally good shape," he told reporters.

Public opinion has improved since the peak of opposition to the Iraq war in 2005, but there has been anti-US sentiment in Europe this year over secret CIA prisons for "war on terror" suspects, the Lebanese crisis and the Iran nuclear dispute, which was acknowledged by the US official.

"It is nevertheless a curiosity that while we are working very well with the governments, public opinion has not yet caught up to that," Fried said.

Rice, the 25 European Union ministers and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner were joined for a "transatlantic lunch" by Canada's Foreign Minister Peter McKay and NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.