Siemens AG has to shed 15,000 jobs in the next year as part of a EUR6 billion cost cutting program. This was according to a company spokesman said last Sunday, adding that a third of the cost cutting would take place in Germany.

The announcement came after two months that Chief Executive Peter Loescher was ousted from office. He drew the savings plan late last year including the cost cutting program.

Siemens is the biggest engineering firm in Europe with products ranging from gas turbines to hearing aids. The company had been anxious to keep a closer pace with more profitable rivals including US based General Electric Co. and Switzerland's ABB.

The spokesman said that the company had reached an agreement on reducing jobs by about half. He said that a deal on the other half of the job cuts would follow. The announcement was made to end market speculations regarding the number of jobs that were about to be cut, the spokesman added.

So far, no workers had been laid off in the company.

In Germany, around 2000 jobs would be cut at Siemens industrial unit and another 1400 at its energy and infrastructure business, said the spokesman.

Siemens AG is a multinational company with headquarters located in Munich, Bavaria and Germany. The company is a publicly traded firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange.