A database statement is processed in a multi-server system, in a manner to increase the possibility that slave server processes on remote nodes will generate execution plans that are equivalent to the corresponding execution plan generated by the query coordinator process. A set of hints is generated based on the same information on which the master plan is based. The set of hints is sent to remote nodes, where respective remote plans are generated based in part on the set of hints. Use of the hints in generation of the remote plan increases the possibility that the remote plan will be equivalent to the master plan and that the slaves on the other database server will be able to join in parallel processing of the database statement.