Deputy Secretary of State Zoellick departs: official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Deputy Secretary of State
Robert Zoellick will leave his post on Monday, after mainly
focusing on China and Sudan in the No. 2 job at the department,
a U.S. official said.

Zoellick had been mentioned as a possible candidate to take
over as Treasury secretary, but he did not get the job. He was
expected to move into the private sector.

Before joining the State Department in February 2005,
Zoellick served as U.S. Trade Representative where he completed
negotiations to bring China and Taiwan into the World Trade
Organization.

The U.S. official who confirmed Zoellick was leaving
declined to speak on the record so as to not upstage the
official announcement of his departure expected at 9 a.m. by
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.