diff --git a/python/google/__init__.py b/python/google/__init__.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 558561412299..000000000000
--- a/python/google/__init__.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-try:
-  __import__('pkg_resources').declare_namespace(__name__)
-except ImportError:
-  __path__ = __import__('pkgutil').extend_path(__path__, __name__)
diff --git a/python/pyproject.toml b/python/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..0b91242b9cb3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["packaging", "setuptools"]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+
+[project]
+name = "protobuf"
+description = "Protocol Buffers are Google's data interchange format"
+readme = "README.md"
+requires-python = ">=3.8"
+maintainers= [
+    { email = "protobuf@googlegroups.com" }
+]
+license = { text = "BSD-3-Clause" }
+classifiers = [
+    "Programming Language :: Python",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12"
+]
+dependencies = [
+    "numpy<=1.26.1",
+    "setuptools<=68.2.2"
+]
+dynamic = ["version"]
+
+[project.urls]
+homepage = "https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/"
+repository = "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf"
+download = "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases"
+
+[tool.setuptools.dynamic]
+version = { attr = "google.protobuf.__init__.__version__" }
+
+[tool.setuptools.packages.find]
+include = ["../src/google/protobuf.*"]
+exclude = [
+    "import_test_package",
+    "protobuf_distutils"
+]
diff --git a/python/requirements.txt b/python/requirements.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index d568cc581e63..000000000000
--- a/python/requirements.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-numpy<=1.26.1
-setuptools<=68.2.2
diff --git a/python/setup.cfg b/python/setup.cfg
deleted file mode 100644
index 2a9acf13daa9..000000000000
--- a/python/setup.cfg
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-[bdist_wheel]
-universal = 1
diff --git a/python/setup.py b/python/setup.py
index 329dece30655..6d6a5b847540 100755
--- a/python/setup.py
+++ b/python/setup.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 import fnmatch
 import glob
 import os
-import pkg_resources
 import re
 import shutil
 import subprocess
@@ -23,10 +22,11 @@
 # pylint:disable=g-importing-member
 # pylint:disable=g-multiple-import
 
-from setuptools import setup, Extension, find_packages
-
+from setuptools import setup, Extension
 from setuptools.command.build_ext import build_ext as _build_ext
 from setuptools.command.build_py import build_py as _build_py
+from packaging import version
+
 
 # Find the Protocol Compiler.
 if 'PROTOC' in os.environ and os.path.exists(os.environ['PROTOC']):
@@ -47,21 +47,6 @@
   protoc = shutil.which('protoc')
 
 
-def GetVersion():
-  """Reads and returns the version from google/protobuf/__init__.py.
-
-  Do not import google.protobuf.__init__ directly, because an installed
-  protobuf library may be loaded instead.
-
-  Returns:
-      The version.
-  """
-
-  with open(os.path.join('google', 'protobuf', '__init__.py')) as version_file:
-    exec(version_file.read(), globals())  # pylint:disable=exec-used
-    return __version__  # pylint:disable=undefined-variable
-
-
 def GenProto(source, require=True):
   """Generates a _pb2.py from the given .proto file.
 
@@ -339,8 +324,7 @@ def HasLibraryDirsOpt():
     # deployment target of macOS 10.9 or later, or iOS 7 or later.
     if sys.platform == 'darwin':
       mac_target = str(sysconfig.get_config_var('MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET'))
-      if mac_target and (pkg_resources.parse_version(mac_target) <
-                         pkg_resources.parse_version('10.9.0')):
+      if mac_target and (version.parse(mac_target) < version.parse('10.9.0')):
         os.environ['MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET'] = '10.9'
         os.environ['_PYTHON_HOST_PLATFORM'] = re.sub(
             r'macosx-[0-9]+\.[0-9]+-(.+)',
@@ -389,47 +373,12 @@ def HasLibraryDirsOpt():
     ])
     os.environ['PROTOCOL_BUFFERS_PYTHON_IMPLEMENTATION'] = 'cpp'
 
-  install_requires = []
-
   setup(
-      name='protobuf',
-      version=GetVersion(),
-      description='Protocol Buffers',
-      download_url='https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases',
-      long_description="Protocol Buffers are Google's data interchange format",
-      url='https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/',
-      project_urls={
-          'Source': 'https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf',
-      },
-      maintainer='protobuf@googlegroups.com',
-      maintainer_email='protobuf@googlegroups.com',
-      license='BSD-3-Clause',
-      classifiers=[
-          'Programming Language :: Python',
-          'Programming Language :: Python :: 3',
-          # LINT.IfChange
-          # Remove importlib fallback path when we drop Python 3.8 support.
-          'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8',
-          # LINT.ThenChange(//depot/google3/google/protobuf/internal/test_util.py)
-          'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9',
-          'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10',
-          'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11',
-          'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12',
-      ],
-      namespace_packages=['google'],
-      packages=find_packages(
-          exclude=[
-              'import_test_package',
-              'protobuf_distutils',
-          ],
-      ),
       test_suite='google.protobuf.internal',
       cmdclass={
           'build_py': BuildPyCmd,
           'build_ext': BuildExtCmd,
           'test_conformance': TestConformanceCmd,
       },
-      install_requires=install_requires,
       ext_modules=ext_module_list,
-      python_requires='>=3.8',
   )