diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 55e675e..6582d44 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 include pysmarty2/registers/*.json
+include requirements.txt
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b17e60d..a2e7034 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,11 +1,20 @@
 """Setup for pysmarty2 package."""
 
+import os
 import setuptools
 
-
-with open("README.md", "r") as fh:
+# Read README.md
+with open("README.md", "r", encoding="utf-8") as fh:
     LONG_DESCRIPTION = fh.read()
 
+# Ensure requirements.txt exists before reading it
+if os.path.exists("requirements.txt"):
+    with open("requirements.txt", "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+        REQUIREMENTS = [line.strip() for line in f if line.strip()]
+else:
+    REQUIREMENTS = []
+
+
 setuptools.setup(
     name="pysmarty2",
     version="0.10.2",