diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 3af1445f..0d1fc6cf 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 include AUTHORS
+include babel.cfg
 include LICENSE
 include README.rst
 include ChangeLog
@@ -6,3 +7,4 @@ include tox.ini
 include .testr.conf
 recursive-include doc *
 recursive-include tools *
+recursive-include python-heatclient *.po *.pot
diff --git a/babel.cfg b/babel.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..efceab81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/babel.cfg
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+[python: **.py]
diff --git a/python-heatclient/locale/python-heatclient.pot b/python-heatclient/locale/python-heatclient.pot
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 60936c73..6ecf12b3 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -2,10 +2,12 @@
 # of appearance. Changing the order has an impact on the overall integration
 # process, which may cause wedges in the gate later.
 
+Babel>=1.3
 pbr>=0.6,!=0.7,<1.0
 argparse
 iso8601>=0.1.9
 PrettyTable>=0.7,<0.8
+oslo.i18n>=1.0.0  # Apache-2.0
 oslo.serialization>=1.0.0               # Apache-2.0
 oslo.utils>=1.0.0                       # Apache-2.0
 python-keystoneclient>=0.11.1
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index cae92c45..3b001fea 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -41,3 +41,17 @@ upload-dir = doc/build/html
 
 [wheel]
 universal = 1
+
+[extract_messages]
+keywords = _ gettext ngettext l_ lazy_gettext
+mapping_file = babel.cfg
+output_file = python-heatclient/locale/python-heatclient.pot
+
+[compile_catalog]
+directory = python-heatclient/locale
+domain = python-heatclient
+
+[update_catalog]
+domain = python-heatclient
+output_dir = python-heatclient/locale
+input_file = python-heatclient/locale/python-heatclient.pot
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 202ff458..c0999ceb 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -12,7 +12,11 @@ deps = -r{toxinidir}/requirements.txt
 commands = python setup.py testr --slowest --testr-args='{posargs}'
 
 [testenv:pep8]
-commands = flake8
+commands =
+    flake8
+    # Check that .po and .pot files are valid:
+    bash -c "find python-heatclient -type f -regex '.*\.pot?' -print0|xargs -0 -n 1 msgfmt --check-format -o /dev/null"
+whitelist_externals = bash
 
 [testenv:venv]
 commands = {posargs}
@@ -31,3 +35,6 @@ downloadcache = ~/cache/pip
 show-source = True
 exclude=.venv,.git,.tox,dist,*openstack/common*,*lib/python*,*egg,build
 max-complexity=20
+
+[hacking]
+import_exceptions = heatclient.openstack.common._i18n
\ No newline at end of file