It's too dare statement. Poland isn't a 3-rd world country anymore; and it will be developing faster than the current "well-off" countries because it's now in their interest too that Poland is well-developed. Otherwise, other countries in the EU would have to pay more than they currently do.
Poland - never - had been a 3rd World country... During the Cold War the UN had divided the world into ...3 cathegories...
...the 1st World - US, Canada, W. Europe, Japan..
...the 2nd World - the USSR and Eastern Europe...
...the 3rd World - everybody else...
Jeez..
Iran isn't a 3rd world country (they have lots of oil:).
Iran is a 3rd World country by all means - becaouse of its development level.. as well as according to the UN definition..
Generally I think - like genek wrote - countries who have oil will be winning the economic race in the future... I wish Poland had more oil in their natural resources (I know they have lots of coal, but it's not very efficient source of energy and it's costly to mine).
Countries who will have nuclear energy, hydrogen-cell technology, and later on fusion power, are going to win the economic race in the future..
And coal is good, cose when the oil prices are going rise a little bit higher, it is going to be ceonomicly feasable to produce oil out of coal.