diff --git a/mysql_fdw.c b/mysql_fdw.c
index 6181ffb..21913f4 100644
--- a/mysql_fdw.c
+++ b/mysql_fdw.c
@@ -422,6 +422,7 @@ mysqlPlanForeignScan(Oid foreigntableid, PlannerInfo *root, RelOptInfo *baserel)
 			errmsg("failed to initialise the MySQL connection object")
 			));
 
+	mysql_options(conn, MYSQL_SET_CHARSET_NAME, GetDatabaseEncodingName());
 	if (!mysql_real_connect(conn, svr_address, svr_username, svr_password, svr_database, svr_port, NULL, 0))
 		ereport(ERROR,
 			(errcode(ERRCODE_FDW_UNABLE_TO_ESTABLISH_CONNECTION),
@@ -535,6 +536,7 @@ mysqlBeginForeignScan(ForeignScanState *node, int eflags)
 			errmsg("failed to initialise the MySQL connection object")
 			));
 
+	mysql_options(conn, MYSQL_SET_CHARSET_NAME, GetDatabaseEncodingName());
 	if (!mysql_real_connect(conn, svr_address, svr_username, svr_password, svr_database, svr_port, NULL, 0))
 		ereport(ERROR,
 			(errcode(ERRCODE_FDW_UNABLE_TO_ESTABLISH_CONNECTION),
@@ -578,6 +580,7 @@ mysqlIterateForeignScan(ForeignScanState *node)
 	/* Execute the query, if required */
 	if (!festate->result)
 	{
+		mysql_query(festate->conn, "SET time_zone = '+00:00'");
 		if (mysql_query(festate->conn, festate->query) != 0)
 		{
 			char *err = pstrdup(mysql_error(festate->conn));
@@ -589,7 +592,7 @@ mysqlIterateForeignScan(ForeignScanState *node)
 		}
 
 		/* Guess the query succeeded then */
-		festate->result = mysql_store_result(festate->conn);
+		festate->result = mysql_use_result(festate->conn);
 	}
 
 	/* Cleanup */
@@ -690,6 +693,7 @@ mysqlGetForeignRelSize(PlannerInfo *root, RelOptInfo *baserel, Oid foreigntablei
 			errmsg("failed to initialise the MySQL connection object")
 			));
 
+	mysql_options(conn, MYSQL_SET_CHARSET_NAME, GetDatabaseEncodingName());
 	if (!mysql_real_connect(conn, svr_address, svr_username, svr_password, svr_database, svr_port, NULL, 0))
 		ereport(ERROR,
 			(errcode(ERRCODE_FDW_UNABLE_TO_ESTABLISH_CONNECTION),