PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki is in Portugal attending a two-day European Union summit being held in the northern town of Feira. Prtuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gama, briefing journalists, said Mbeki was the gathering’s “special guest” two months after the first-ever EU-Africa summit in Cairo. “He’s a major person on the African continent,” Gama said, as Mbeki was addressing the European leaders behind closed doors. “His country is very important for Africa and the world.” Inviting him to the summit, he said, was part of the European Union’s wish “to bring Africa to the center stage of Europe’s agenda.”