President Nelson Mandela left Pretoria late on Wednesday for a brief visit to Germany and Switzerland, a foreign ministry spokesman said. Mandela is to arrive in Germany on Thursday and on the same day receive the German media prize in the western city of Baden-Baden. The 80-year-old president, who is stepping down later this year, is also to meet German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer on Thursday. Mandela will give South Africa’s highest award for foreigners, the Order of Good Hope, to DaimlerChrysler chairman Juergen Schrempp, who has invested heavily in South Africa. Mandela will go from Germany to Switzerland to meet the president of the Swiss Confederation, Ruth Dreyfuss, and attend the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos on January 29 and 30.