diff --git a/mingw-w64-python-babel/PKGBUILD b/mingw-w64-python-babel/PKGBUILD
index a9d00151dc..cae33110df 100644
--- a/mingw-w64-python-babel/PKGBUILD
+++ b/mingw-w64-python-babel/PKGBUILD
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@ _realname=babel
 pkgbase=mingw-w64-python-${_realname}
 pkgname=("${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-python2-${_realname}" "${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-python3-${_realname}")
 pkgver=2.6.0
-pkgrel=2
+_core=33
+pkgrel=3
 pkgdesc="A collection of tools for internationalizing Python applications (mingw-w64)"
 url="http://babel.pocoo.org/"
 license=("BSD")
@@ -14,24 +15,54 @@ makedepends=("${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-python2-setuptools"
              "${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-python3-setuptools"
              "${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-python2-pytz"
              "${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-python3-pytz")
-source=("${_realname}-${pkgver}.tar.gz"::"https://github.com/python-babel/babel/archive/v${pkgver}.tar.gz")
-sha256sums=('f760326e6ae6ce290520aef63c3ee416a9258d7917addb0b6e086fe0e5911432')
+checkdepends=("${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-python2-pytest"
+              "${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-python3-pytest"
+              "${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-python2-pytest-runner"
+              "${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-python3-pytest-runner"
+              "${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-python2-freezegun"
+              "${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-python3-freezegun")
+source=("${_realname}-${pkgver}.tar.gz"::"https://github.com/python-babel/babel/archive/v${pkgver}.tar.gz"
+           "core-$_core.zip"::"http://unicode.org/Public/cldr/$_core/core.zip")
+noextract=("core-$_core.zip")
+sha256sums=('f760326e6ae6ce290520aef63c3ee416a9258d7917addb0b6e086fe0e5911432'
+            'fa3490082c086d21257153609642f54fcf788fcfda4966fe67f3f6daca0d58b9')
 
 prepare() {
   cd ${srcdir}
   for pver in {2,3}; do 
     rm -rf python${pver}-build-${CARCH} | true
     cp -r "${_pyname}-${pkgver}" "python${pver}-build-${CARCH}"
+    cp "$srcdir"/core-$_core.zip "python${pver}-build-${CARCH}"/cldr/core-$_core.0.zip
   done
 }
 
+build() {
+  for pver in {2,3}; do  
+    msg "Python ${pver} build for ${CARCH}"  
+    cd "${srcdir}/python${pver}-build-${CARCH}"
+    MSYS2_ARG_CONV_EXCL="--prefix=;--install-scripts=;--install-platlib=" \
+      ${MINGW_PREFIX}/bin/python${pver} setup.py import_cldr
+    MSYS2_ARG_CONV_EXCL="--prefix=;--install-scripts=;--install-platlib=" \
+      ${MINGW_PREFIX}/bin/python${pver} setup.py build
+  done  
+}
+
+check() {
+  cd "${srcdir}"
+  for pver in {2,3}; do  
+    msg "Python ${pver} test for ${CARCH}"  
+    cd "${srcdir}/python${pver}-build-${CARCH}"
+    MSYS2_ARG_CONV_EXCL="--prefix=;--install-scripts=;--install-platlib=" \
+      ${MINGW_PREFIX}/bin/python${pver} setup.py pytest || true
+  done  
+}
+
 package_python3-babel() {
   depends=("${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-python3-pytz")
 
   cd "${srcdir}/python${pver}-build-${CARCH}"
-  ${MINGW_PREFIX}/bin/python3 setup.py import_cldr
   MSYS2_ARG_CONV_EXCL="--prefix=;--install-scripts=;--install-platlib=" \
-  ${MINGW_PREFIX}/bin/python3 setup.py install --prefix=${MINGW_PREFIX} --root="${pkgdir}"
+    ${MINGW_PREFIX}/bin/python3 setup.py install --prefix=${MINGW_PREFIX} --root="${pkgdir}" --optimize=1 --skip-build
 
   install -Dm644 "${srcdir}/${_realname}-${pkgver}/LICENSE" "${pkgdir}${MINGW_PREFIX}/share/licenses/python3-${_realname}/LICENSE"
 
@@ -46,9 +77,8 @@ package_python2-babel() {
   depends=("${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-python2-pytz")
 
   cd "${srcdir}/python${pver}-build-${CARCH}"
-  ${MINGW_PREFIX}/bin/python2 setup.py import_cldr
   MSYS2_ARG_CONV_EXCL="--prefix=;--install-scripts=;--install-platlib=" \
-  ${MINGW_PREFIX}/bin/python2 setup.py install --prefix=${MINGW_PREFIX} --root="${pkgdir}"
+    ${MINGW_PREFIX}/bin/python2 setup.py install --prefix=${MINGW_PREFIX} --root="${pkgdir}" --optimize=1 --skip-build
 
   install -Dm644 "${srcdir}/${_realname}-${pkgver}/LICENSE" "${pkgdir}${MINGW_PREFIX}/share/licenses/python2-${_realname}/LICENSE"